As spring arrives on Gardam Street, there are surprises in store for each Penderwick, from neighbor Nick Geiger's expected return from the war to Batty's new dog-walking business, but her plans to use her profits to surprise her family on her eleventh birthday go astray.

Duck and Duck busily prepare for a party, while their housemate, Moose, only gets in the way.

In this variation of "Little Red Riding Hood," Betsy Red Hoodie goes to visit her grandma with her friend Zimmo the wolf and her flock of sheep, but Zimmo, her mother, and her grandma have a surprise planned.

On Halloween, Melly is invited to Cousin Malberta's home for a surprise, but as she walks there on a beautifully spooky evening, she is followed by increasing numbers of creatures that may actually be frightening.

Members of a large group of animals, including a penguin, two rabbits, and a koala, disappear at an alarming rate but the hungry lion remains.

Publisher Annotation: Tom has a very important job: every day he climbs to the top of the hill and watches for pirate ships. When he rings his bell and shouts “PIRATES!” a few too many times — even though there’s no pirate ship — the villagers start to get tired of hiding. But what will happen when the pirates really do show up?

Best friends Elephant and Piggie decide that they will try to surprise each other, with unexpected results.

Publisher Annotation: It?s homework time for the little red chicken, who has just learned about something every good story should have: an elephant of surprise. Or could it be an element of surprise (as her amused papa explains)? As they dive in to story after story, looking for the part that makes a reader say "Whoa! I didn?t know that was going to happen," Papa is sure he can convince Chicken he?s right. After all, there are definitely no elephants...

"After being together for ten years, Sylvie and Dan have all the trimmings of a happy life and marriage; they have a comfortable home, fulfilling jobs, beautiful twin girls, and communicate so seamlessly, they finish each other's sentences. However, a trip to the doctor projects they will live another 68 years together and panic sets in. They never expected 'until death do us part' to mean seven decades. In the name of marriage survival, they quickly...