The week before Gus starts school, he practices with his toys, studying clouds, reading books, and cooking mud pies.

Alfie the polar bear loves to do the Polar Bear Paddle, but although his brothers tell him he is too old for the baby pool they are too busy to teach him how to swim in the sea and he must turn to Diving Bird and Seal for help.

Josh, who does not like noise, is continually interrupted in his quiet play by eleven noisy brothers and sisters, but one day there is a strange new sound which only he is brave enough to investigate.

Armadillo wants a friend, and so when three other animals mistake him for a stone and express their wishes near him, he does everything he can to make them come true.

Ed loves his egg and is not at all sure that he wants to leave it, but when he finally gives it up he discovers that there is something better.

Alfie the cat loves to look grumpy even when he feels fine, but when his face freezes in a smile one day he makes an interesting discovery.

When the cool and damp bucket he was living in gets thrown away, Frog tries to find another compatible home.

"When Albert the dog steals the cat's fishy nibbles, Sarah Jane, the cat, moves next door, but she misses having a great big cat dog cuddle by the fire." --