In 1881, when their apple tree is felled by a storm just before Christmas, a young farm girl and her family discover that the tree was important to each of them for different reasons.

Jimmy's birthday party at SeaLand turns out to be a big splash when everyone ends up in the big tank.

Eleven-year-old Gave enlists in the Union Army in Pennsylvania along with his older brother Davy and, as a bugler, does his best to protect Davy during the Battle of Gettysburg.

"Lizzie loves school more than anything. After starting first grade, she mistakenly thinks it will last a full year and is dismayed when it ends in June. Luckily her first grade teacher applies to teach summer school"--

A poor peasant woman who has no money for gifts or a special meal for her children gets help from a kindly mother spider on Christmas.

Delly Porter enjoys the feel of soft dirt beneath her feet as she walks to and from school, but after a classmate makes her feel ashamed of having no shoes she learns that her parents and others, too, see value in things that do not cost money.

A bunch of literate cows go on strike after Farmer Brown refuses to give in to their typed demands of electric blankets when the barn gets too cold.