Saddle up for this first volume in a spin-off series starring favorite characters from DiCamillo's "New York Times"-bestselling Mercy Watson books. Leroy Ninker has a hat, a lasso, and boots. What he doesn't have is a horse--until he meets Maybelline, and then it's love at first sight.

Mercy Watson thinks like a pig: After Mercy Watson follows the delightful scent and delicious taste of the pansies her thoughtful neighbors plant to beautify their yard, animal control officer Francine Poulet is called out to handle the case, which brings unexpected results. Something wonky this way comes: Mercy Watson goes to the movies and she's on a mission-for true buttered popcorn.

"Eugenia Lincoln is a practical person, with no time for geegaws, whoop-de-whoops, or frivolity. When an unexpected package containing an accordian arrives at her house, she is determined to have nothing to do with it. But her plans to sell the accordion, destroy the accordion, or give the accordion away all end in frustration. Will Eugenia find a way to deal with this troublesome package---or will she discover that a little frivolity can be surprisingly...

Rob, who passes the time in his rural Florida community by wood carving, is drawn by his spunky but angry friend Sistine into a plan to free a caged tiger.

Hoping that if she wins a local beauty pageant her father will come home, Raymie practices twirling a baton and performing good deeds as she is drawn into an unlikely friendship with a drama queen and a saboteur.

Rescuing a squirrel after an accident involving a vacuum cleaner, comic-reading cynic Flora Belle Buckman is astonished when the squirrel, Ulysses, demonstrates astonishing powers of strength and flight after being revived.