A constant worrier, Franklin Endicott earns a fresh cause for alarm when he accompanies Eugenia Lincoln to her favorite thrift shop and leaves with a mystery to solve.

Metaphor alert! An ode to a certain pig kicks off one wild school day in Kate DiCamillo’s latest stop on Deckawoo Drive. Stella Endicott loves her teacher, Miss Liliana, and she is thrilled when the class is assigned to write a poem. Stella crafts a beautiful poem about Mercy Watson, the pig who lives next door — a poem complete with a metaphor and full of curiosity and courage. But Horace Broom, Stella's irritating classmate, insists that Stella’s poem is full of lies and that pigs do not live in houses. And when Stella and Horace get into a shouting match in the classroom, Miss Liliana banishes them to the principal’s office. Will the two of them find a way to turn this opposite-of-a-poem day around? In the newest spirited outing in the Deckawoo Drive series by Kate DiCamillo, anything is possible — even a friendship with a boy deemed to be (metaphorically speaking) an overblown balloon.

The first three tales of Kate DiCamillo’s hilarious and heartfelt Deckawoo Drive series are collected in a convenient, affordable bind-up. Dive into a spin-off series starring favorite characters from Kate DiCamillo’s New York Times best-selling Mercy Watson books. Whether it’s bumbling cowboy Leroy Ninker getting his first horse, Animal Control Officer Francine Poulet wrangling raccoons, or sweet Baby Lincoln striking out on her own, the characters of Deckawoo Drive are sure to enchant early readers. Included are: Leroy Ninker Saddles Up Francine Poulet Meets the Ghost Raccoon Where Are You Going, Baby Lincoln?

What will it take for a cynical older sister to realize she’s a born accordion player — with music in her heart? Eugenia Lincoln is a practical person with no time for gee-gaws, whoop-de-whoops, or frivolity. When an unexpected package containing an accordion 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. How can Eugenia stop being tormented by this troublesome package — and could she discover that a bit of unforeseen frivolity might actually be surprisingly . . . joyous?

Frank Endicott is a worrier. When he accompanies Eugenia Lincoln on an errand to duplicate a key at her favorite dark and dusty thrifty shop, Frank earns fresh cause for alarm. Odd Buddy Lamp, the shop's proprietor, has sent them home with the original key and its copy. Can Frank come to terms with the mystery without buckling under his mounting dread? With a little help from friends (old and new), hot cocoa, and some classic short stories read aloud, the prognosis is good.

In 1794, faced with possible war with Great Britain, the federal government assumed the responsibility for the construction and manning of seacoast fortifications from Maine to Georgia. Construction was entrusted to French-born engineers, who followed traditional European bastioned designs. In 1806, Britain1s abuse of neutral maritime rights again threatened war, and Congress appropriated funds for additional seacoast defenses. Almost all of the design and construction of these works was supervised by officers of the Corps of Engineers, most of whom were graduates of the new U.S. Military Academy. On the eve of the outbreak of the War of 1812, the defenses of the Atlantic coast and the Mississippi River below New Orleans were substantially complete, manned by regular troops, and performed well. Due to the effectiveness of these fortifications, the United States embarked on construction of a series of permanent seacoast defense systems in 1816 that lasted through World War II.