Shortly before her thirteenth birthday, shy and withdrawn Tara is sent to stay with her aunt, uncle, and cousin in her parents' hometown of Willow Falls, where she makes friends and becomes involved with an elderly buyer and seller of collectibles, who seems to be trying to give Tara some kind of mysterious message

Grace and Ellie have been best friends since second grade. Ellie's always right in the center of everything--and Grace is usually happy to be Ellie's sidekick. But what happens when everything changes? This time it's Grace who suddenly has everyone's attention when she accidentally starts a new fad at school. It's a fad that has first her class, then her grade, and then the entire school collecting and trading and even fighting over . . . buttons?!...

When a young girl finds a shiny quartz crystal, her dad shows her how to dig for minerals, and she becomes Julie the Rockhound. Includes "For Creative Minds" section

Jerome enjoys collecting and using words that he hears, reads, or sees, and then decides to share his collection with others.

When Llewellyn, a little rabbit who collects ordinary things in jars, meets a young girl named Evelyn, he joins with her to capture the extraordinary.

"Eleven-year-old Van Markson embarks on a quest to rescue his best friend from a dangerous wish collector"--

Fergal Banfield, an eccentric lad who collects cans, is surprised to find some unexpected--and even alarming--things in a few of his treasures, and when he meets Charlotte, another collector, they begin an investigation that leads them into dangerous territory

When Jumbeelia, an eight-year-old giant, climbs down a beanstalk and collects some "iggly plops," the little people of children's stories, she treats them like toys, unaware that she is endangering their lives

Hetty is so fond of hats she decides to collect one hundred of them by her birthday

"Maggie finds treasure wherever she goes. Whether it's a button, a feather or a shiny stone, she picks it up and takes it home. At first the neighbors and city workers are grateful to Maggie for cleaning up; the mayor even gives her an award. But over time Maggie's collection grows bigger and bigger, until it spills out of her house and garden in an unsightly mess. Her parents tell her "Enough treasure!" and eventually even Maggie realizes that something...