The day of the school concert, Lola and Lotta are practicing the song they're going to perform when Lola gets a bad case of the hiccups. Everyone tries to help her get rid of them, but nothing works. Will Lola be able to stop hiccuping in time for the show?

“A strange and surprisingly touching novel about how people find good and evil where they look for them” (Booklist). In 1930s Russia, an eight-year-old boy named Vladimir is suddenly stricken with a chronic case of the hiccups. He soon finds himself spirited away to a Moscow hospital by the famous physician Sergei Namestikov, who puts him through a series of extraordinary—and often bizarre—treatments in an effort to find a cure. Then Sergei’s chief medical rival, the brilliant Alexander Afiniganov, determines that beneath Vladimir’s blank eyes lurks a pure, unbridled evil—and takes steps to remove the child from polite society. Abandoned by everyone but his hiccups, Vladimir is about to embark on a journey that is funny, poignant, and surreal—and that takes a close look at the nature of good and evil—in this novel, a winner of the Canadian Authors Association Award for Fiction from the author of Hanna Who Fell From the Sky. “A beautifully written novel, part folk tale, part parable.” —Will Ferguson, author of Happiness

Charlie has a little sister, Lola. Lola has the hiccups. They just won't go away. But Lola and Lotta have to perform at the school concert. Lola says, "How am I going to sing my song if I'm hiccuping all the time?" And Charlie says, "Hmm ... I've got an idea!"

When Lola gets the hiccups, Charlie and her friends try to help her get rid of them in time for the school concert.

Angelina is very excited; she is going to be head flower princess in the big recital. She practices like crazy and feels confident on the night of the performance. But—oh, no!—Angelina gets the hiccups. She tries everything but they just won't stop. Unless she finds a way to cure them, Angelina will be pirouetting—and hiccupping— across the stage! Find out if the show goes on for Angelina Ballerina in this first All Aboard Reader!

Provine boldly goes where other scientists seldom tread—in search of hiccups, coughs, yawns, sneezes, and other lowly, undignified, human behaviors. Our earthiest instinctive acts bear the imprint of our evolutionary origins and can be valuable tools for understanding how the human brain works and what makes us different from other species.