"Annie Fetlock--born on Thursday, met the love of her life on Thursday, and when a special cat comes into her life on Thursday, she knows he has found the right home"--

When Patricia starts junior high, her awful older brother Richie makes her life miserable but after he teaches her to dance she sees that he is not so rotten after all.

In 1912, orphaned Irish street musician Jonathan Harker accidentally stows away on the Titanic, where he is befriended by Wallace Hartley, called "the bravest man in the world" for playing violin with the band as the Titanic sank. Includes historical note.

At the public library in her new town, Patricia meets Mrs. Creavy, an encouraging librarian who introduces Patricia to the books of John James Audubon and helps her become the first member of the Audubon Bird Club of Freemont Elementary.

Young Stella loves books so much, her books begin to take over the farmhouse. "Why, Stell, you need your own library to hold those books, " her pa tells her, so he and the neighbors build her one! She calls it "The Mermaid's Purse, " since the midwife said Stella was born in one. Stella opens the Purse to her neighbors and travels around the countryside, sharing her books door-to-door. Not everyone gives them a chance at first, like grouchy Pig Ears...