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One of the Third Grade Thonkers

Jimmy Novak is excited about spring vacation. He and his club, the “Rough, Tough, and Terrible” Thonkers, are planning to turn the Novaks’ garage into a clubhouse for the whole week. But everything changes when Jimmy’s cousin David comes to stay after his mother’s surgery. Jimmy and the Thonkers are brave, and David is scared of everything.

Jimmy thinks David will ruin the Thonkers’ secret plans. Then something happens on the river–something that helps Jimmy learn the real meaning of courage.

How Lazy Can You Get?

Miss Brasscoat continually asks the Megglethorp children, whose peculiarities she doesn’t understand, how lazy and dirty can they be. They decide to show her.

Josie’s Troubles

It’s scary being the new girl in town. That’s why Josie is so excited about quickly becoming best friends with Sarah. So what if Sarah used to be best friends with Kimberly. That’s over. But Josie’s troubles begin when she and Sarah accidentally break the leg on Sarah’s piano bench.

The girls must pay for the repairs. It seems easy to do when they start a plant and pet-sitting business. But Josie never dreamed that a plant, a cat, a dog, and fish could cause so many problems. And what about her best friend Sarah? Is Kimberly trying to come between them? Between pets, plants, and best friends, Josie’s in triple trouble.

The Galloping Goat and other Stories

This was Phyllis Naylor’s first published book, illustrated by Robert Jefferson, published in 1965. It was a collection of nine short stories, previously published singly in church magazines for children, each story taking place in a foreign country.

Getting Along with your Family

All families have problems; that’s part of being in a group of people who celebrate together, who fuss and argue, laugh and cry, and care for each other. This book explores the best ways of fighting together, sharing tasks, being loyal, and showing love, as well as dealing with special problems. Each family is special in its own way, and there are ways to make even the best families better.

Getting Along with your Friends

This is a book to help you feel comfortable around people your age–to get along with your friends and make new ones. It will help you understand the reasons for their behavior, and be a better friend to others yourself.

Getting Along with your Teachers

There are many ways to get to know your teachers without becoming “the teacher’s pet” or being known as the terror of the classroom. This is a book to help you get off to a good start with your teachers. In understanding them better, it may even help you to understand yourself.

The Grand Escape

If only Marco hadn’t read a newspaper article about a ranch and become determined to see one. If only Polo hadn’t found himself longing for the mother he barely remembered as a soft-warm-wiggle-purr-milk-tongue. Then the two tabbies might have been content to remain pampered house cats forever. But when their owners leave a door open, Marco and Polo can’t resist the temptation to escape to the outside world.

Their search for food and a dry place to sleep leads them to Texas Jake and the cats of the Club of Mysteries. Life on the streets is a lot easier with friends, but Marco and Polo have to prove themselves before they can become members of the club. And that means facing the huge mastiff Bertram the Bad, a pack of savage river rats, and a barren landscape that may be the ranch of Marco’s dreams — even if it seems more like a nightmare.

Home is starting to look better and better…

The Healing of Texas Jake

Texas Jake is on the mend… and the fur is really flying.

Texas Jake, the big yellow tomcat, was badly injured saving his friends from the huge mastiff Bertram the Bad. Now the other cats in the Club of Mysteries are looking for ways to speed Texas Jake’s recovery — perhaps earn the right to take his place as leader of the club.

Marco and Polo have taken on the riskiest mission of all — gathering some comfrey leaves to heal Texas Jake’s wounds. The problem is, comfrey grows only at the city dump, and that’s the turf of the dreaded Steak Knife and his gang. Steak Knife is rumored to have a collection of tails of his victims — and not just mouse and bird tails either!

Soon the brothers are up to their whiskers in danger. Will Marco and Polo return with the goods — and with their tails?

Carlotta’s Kittens

A blessed event

Carlotta’s kittens have arrived — five adorable pink-nosed, silk-eared bundles of fur.

But what a responsibility for the five male cats in the Club of Mysteries! It’s their job not only to protect the kittens from the dangers of the world — like the tough river rats and even tougher Steak Knife and his Over-the-Hill gang (and his collection of the tails of his victims) — but also to teach them the skills every cat needs to survive. And hardest of all, find them good homes before they end up at the dreaded pound.

The Club of Mysteries gang has a hard enough time figuring out the ways of the world for themselves — how can they raise a litter of helpless kittens?