"WHEN TO USE THIS BOOK: Whenever you haven't finished your homework. CAUTION: Each excuse may only be used once."--from back cover."

Marley learns that no matter how tasty, he should not eat Cassie's homework, and wonders how to make it up to her.

Nancy is determined to make the cover of her very first book report as fancy as she can, but she spends so much time on it that she has no time to write about the book.

Little Critter's procrastination turns a little homework into a big job for himself and his patient mother.

Elizabeth, the second-grade sister of Justin Case, is excited about her first homework assignment but it leads her to start a protest of alphabetical order.--

Tom Gates is the master of excuses for late homework: dog attacks, spilt water, lightening. Tom's exercise book is full of his doodles, cartoons and thoughts, as well as comments from his long-suffering teacher, Mr Fullerton. After gaining five merits for his 'Camping Sucks' holiday story, Tom's work starts to go downhill, which is a pity, as he's desperate to impress Amy Porter, who sits next to him.

While the other monsters are ready for some summer fun, Talbot is stuck in summer school. Instead of doing the 20-page book report, Talbot finds a treasure map in the library and decides it is more important than school. He grabs the map, grabs his friend, and is ready for a big adventure. However, the adventure may be more than he can handle. Leaving summer school may be the worst mistake of his life!

After lying about what happened to his homework, Arthur has such a bad dream about being "in a pickle" that he decides to tell the truth.

Emma needs to write a poem for a school assignment, but she would rather go outside with Dixie and enjoy a snowy day.

Traveling through Europe with his parents and two younger brothers, eighth-grader Lucas misses his home in Austin, Texas, and is doing poorly in his remote schooling until an odd-looking coin thrown in the Trevi Fountain transports Lucas back to ancient Rome.