Nick and Maxine have a new babysitter--the eccentric Mrs. Noodlekugel who lives in the funny little house behind their drab high-rise apartment building along with her feline butler, Mr. Fuzzface, and four farsighted mice.

A follow-up to Mrs. Noodlekugel finds Nick and Maxine accompanying the eccentric lady to the eye doctor to help her four myopic mice who, after overindulging on cheesecake, go running into the streets, triggering a search that is aided by a helpful policemen and a rough-edged alley cat.

In a wonderfully loopy third episode, Nick and Maxine are surprised to meet Captain Noodlekugel, back from the sea with a somewhat untrainable bear. When their father decides to compete to be speed-knitting champion of the world, Nick and Maxine are happy to stay with their babysitter, Mrs. Noodlekugel, along with her talking cats and four mice who wear glasses. What they don’t expect is a dripping-wet, whiskered man in the kitchen the next morning! Captain Noodlekugel has left his seafaring life to train animals for the circus, and he’s even brought with him a hefty bear named Drooly for practice. But whenever he tries to teach Drooly to dance, the bear wobbles and falls asleep on the tulips. When Drooly goes missing, the siblings must try to figure out where a big clumsy bear might go!

Arthur goes to pick up the turkey for Thanksgiving dinner but comes back with a 266-pound chicken.

Two children try to rescue the carp their mother plans to make into gefilte fish for the Seder.

With signature wit and whimsy, the inimitable Daniel Pinkwater introduces an eccentric, endearing babysitter every child will wish they could have. Nick and Maxine live in a tall building with one apartment on top of another. So when they look out their window and see a little house they never knew was there, of course they must visit (especially when their parents tell them not to!). Going through the boiler room, they’re amazed to find to a secret backyard with a garden, a porch, and a statue of a cat. And they’re even more amazed when that cat starts to talk. . . . Welcome to the world of Mrs. Noodlekugel, where felines converse and serve cookies and tea, vision-impaired mice join the party (but may put crumbs up their noses), and children in search of funny adventures are drawn by the warm smell of gingerbread and the promise of magical surprises.

A bear with a secret admirer who leaves sweet, crunchy treats outside his cave each night tries to repay the kindness with honey, but comes to find out that his new friend is smaller, cuter, and fonder of carrots than any bear.