Despite his sister Ruby's admonitions, Max waits up on Christmas Eve to see Santa Claus coming down the chimney.

Max and his sister Ruby go on an egg hunt and vie with each other for the prize--a chocolate chicken.

Stella lives in a sparkling home on wheels that's as silver as a comet in the sky. Inside are lots of cupboards and hiding places, and even a sofa that turns into a bed! Her home is called the Starliner, and it has everything Stella and her mama and daddy need to be happy.

When the Depression hits in Cairo, Illinois, and Oscar Ogilvie's father must sell their home and vast model train set-up to look for work in California, eleven-year-old Oscar is left with his dour aunt, where he befriends a mysterious drifter, witnesses a stunning bank robbery, and is suddenly catapulted onto a train that takes him to a different time and place.

Ruby tries to stop her younger brother Max from sneaking into her room and snooping by reading him an altered version of "Pandora's Box."

Despite the doubts of some classmates and her native-born Japanese mother's inability to read English, Yoko finds the key to reading and catches up with the other students in putting new leaves on the classroom's book tree.

When Yoko moves from Japan to California, she decides to make and send origami cranes to her grandmother for her birthday.

Being painfully timid and shy does not keep a young mouse from rescuing his babysitter in an emergency situation, although after becoming a hero he still says zero.

Although Sophie wants to be helpful and good, sometimes she ignores her mother, father, and grandmother and must have a time-out.

During the Depression, Reuben and his out-of-work parents move from Oklahoma to Minnesota, where his father gets a job as a carnival wingwalker and Reuben has a chance to overcome his terror of flying.