Dani Pepper is the second-best speller at Fisher Pitt Junior School. When she's chosen for the State Spelling Bee Championship finals, she's thrilled. She and her nemesis--the stuck-up, first-best-speller Mary Ellen--prepare for the tournament. The whole class takes a bus trip to the library to work on essays and learn new words. In the spirit of competition, Dani and Mary Ellen are caught in a kerfuffle over the word 'catastrophe'. Finally, the big day is upon them. Who will win the coveted spelling championship trophy?

BRAIN MAN Randy O'Rourke wants the robot he built named Brain to be as "Super Colossal" as those at Future World, an amusement park where robots do all the work. Brain doesn't disappoint him. He does Randy's homework and chores--plus some things he wasn't intended to do. His red heart glows in response to compliments. He blinks when touched. He uses "mind talk" to communicate with Randy. However, some of Brain's unprogrammed actions are less endearing. From minor glitch to major disaster, the robot provokes a series of escalating problems. Although Brain is out of control, Randy can't escape that the robot is almost human...and he loves the big pest. DOUBLE TROUBLE DITTO BOX Randy O'Rourke invents a "Ditto Box", a machine that copies whatever he puts inside. When he wants a premium baseball glove like his friend Jake's, he puts his friend's glove in, and--voila!--a duplicate comes out. If Randy and Jake want pizza, he orders one, makes a copy, and they eat two. Randy copies homework, games and even Asthma, Jake's furry mutt. Everything is going great until his little sister wants a playmate. Twozy, as Suzy names her "twin", looks and whines just like Suzy. Mom and Dad are mad at Randy for doubling their trouble, and he has to babysit more girls more often. Two sisters are twice as bad as one! How can he get rid of the new one?

Twins Gert and Phil realise there's sure to be trouble when the Morris family moves in next door. After the twins rescue kittens that the Morris kids have tried to drown and then vandalise their backyard, the war is on! In retaliation, the Morris kids rub their dog down with shoe polish and then steal the canine. Only learning the truth of their background allows the twins to forge a truce...and offer to help out instead of counterattack.

Jane Smith is the unhappy, resentful, eleven-year-old daughter of a single parent. Her escape from the unpleasantness she considers her life is through another world. There, she's one of the four powerful Patrollers sworn to the service of the Princess in the Far Tower. Their quest: To choose the bravest warriors in all space and time to fight the Red Wizard. Jane's ordinary life improves as she makes friends. She's picked for the school play and the prestigious trampoline team. But her otherworldly life with its epic adventures continues to be more important to her than the one she lives in...until the warriors' battle causes a merging of Jane's ordinary world and her otherworldly one.

Nathan and Ashley discover a real live dinosaur egg buried in the sand dunes at their local beach. Trying to decide what to do with it has them stumped. Should they donate it to a museum? Sell it for lots of money? Claim finders keepers and hold onto it for their very own? Unfortunately, thanks to their unscrupulous uncle who wants to sell the egg for big money, the discovery becomes public. Now it seems everyone wants their treasure...

The school holidays have a bad start. Belinda's father doesn't arrive home and it is raining. The news is that his car went over the cliff into the surf beach, but there is no body. Belinda, her mother and Kate stay at Amanda's family beach house to be near where the car went over. Belinda thinks that her father maybe got washed up further up the coastline and perhaps could be sick or ill somewhere in the back country. The girls discover how unusual their three kittens are. When held, all animal speech can be understood. So with the help of the kittens the three girls spend their wet school holidays searching. There is a helpful dog, grouchy possums and a dopey old horse involved before Belinda's father is found at last.

A fairy princess, bored with her existence, breaks a few rules, gets into mischief and ends up getting her wish never to be bored granted...but definitely not the way she expected! Flesch Reading Ease 81.7 Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level 4.4