Fourth-grader Cal learns a lot about teasing and standing up for others when a weird new student joins his class, while Stella, the tenth-grader who lives with Cal's family to help his mother, practices for her driving test.

Fourth-grader Calvin flies from Oahu to the big island of Hawaii to go on a deep-sea fishing trip with Ledward, his mother's boyfriend, and learns to appreciate other living creatures-- especially one enormous marlin.

When Calvin gets a school assignment to do some original research, he decides to investigate his dog's stinky breath and ends up learning about more than just smells.