Pete the cat loves the buttons on his shirt so much that he makes up a song about them, and even as the buttons pop off, one by one, he still finds a reason to sing.

As spring arrives on Gardam Street, there are surprises in store for each Penderwick, from neighbour Nick Geiger's expected return from the war to Batty's new dog-walking business, but her plans to use her profits to surprise her family on her eleventh birthday go astray. Includes excerpt from author's final book in the same series, "The Penderwicks at last" at the end of the book.

Petra, the newest dragon master, is scared to death of the Hydra dragon she is supposed to bond with--but when the Hydra accidentally poisons the King, and then her fellow dragon master, Drake, she must find a way to connect with her dragon, because only the Hydra's song can cure them.

Assaulted and left on the cliffs outside of her grim Alaskan fishing village by her abusive, alcoholic uncle, fourteen-year-old Luce expects to die when she tumbles into the icy waters below, but when she instead transforms into a mermaid she is faced with struggles and choices she could never have imagined.

Delores is upset when her friends are chosen to sing in the chorus, but she finds a way to become part of the performance.

Hazel Nut wants to sing and dance, but Mama, Papa, and Wally Nut are too busy, so Hazel calls in a special family member to get everyone moving.

When Tess's decision to get an abortion goes public, she is rejected and harassed by people in her community, but she soon finds solace in her music and uses her voice to end the cycle of abuse in her small town.

"When Pheobe's sister, Okalee, drowns in the river during their annual spring celebration, Phoebe is wracked with guilt to the point that she loses her singing voice"--

When ten-year-old Indian American Geetanjali, part of a family of classical Hindustani music singers, believes her neighbor has become an ichchaadari naagin, a cobra that can turn human, she must overcome her fears and harness the power of her voice before the naagin changes the whole town into snakes.

At the beginning of seventh grade, Mackenzie is worried--her best friend has moved to France, someone steals her diary, she alienates her two new friends, and it looks like she has lost her chance to win the Teen Sing contest.