Under a new government program based on the saying "It takes a village to raise a child," the Baudelaire orphans are adopted by an entire town, with disastrous results.

Orphaned siblings nine-year-old Cordelia and eleven-year-old Connor, accompanied by their pet capybara, go to live with their aunt in the strange town of Woundabout, where nothing seems to change.

"Coo, a ten-year-old girl raised by a flock of pigeons, delights in finally making human contact, but quickly learns that our world is more cruel and complicated than she could have guessed"--

An inquisitive young boy who lives with his mother and younger sister in a rough housing project in New Haven, Connecticut, approaches his tenth birthday with a mixture of anticipation and worry.

Hilda wonders if she'll ever get used to living in the bustling yet plain city of Trolberg after growing up in the rural Fjords, but the annual bird parade promises to reveal an exciting and mysterious side of the city to her.

"Called upon to investigate thirteen suspicious incidents in Stain'd-by-the-Sea, young Lemony Snicket collects clues, questions witnesses, and cracks every case"--

When two city folks arrive in the depressed mining town of Grubstake, Colorado in 1888, sixteen-year-old orphaned Arley tries to discover why they want to buy the supposedly worthless mines in the area.

"Yasmina isn't like the other kids in her city. She might be an oddball, but no one can deny that Yasmina has a flair for food. All she needs to whip up a gourmet meal is a recipe from her cookbook and fresh vegetables from the community garden. But everything changes when the garden is bulldozed and replaced with a strange new crop of potatoes. Her neighbors can't get enough of these spuds! And after just one bite their behavior changes--they slobber,...

Twelve-year-old Cole's behavior causes his mother to drive him from Detroit to Philadelphia to live with a father he has never known, but who soon has Cole involved with a group of African-American "cowboys" who rescue horses and use them to steer youths away from drugs and gangs.

Former award winning news reporter Jim Qwilleran is assigned to the art world as his new news beat. When a murderer sicks a knife in the neck of a local gallery owner and goes berserk among the works on show, Qwilleran gets help from his Siamese cat solving the mystery.