After planting the garden he has dreamed of for years, Mr. McGreely tries to find a way to keep some persistent bunnies from eating all his vegetables.

"A girl is excited when the circus comes to town, but her family on the farm is too busy with chores to enjoy it"--

A hungry alligator, slow with age, hopes to catch some good meat to add to his spicy gumbo.

In the summer of 1851, with encouragement and ideas provided by his family, an inventor builds a working submarine and takes his family for a ride. Includes notes about Lodner Phillips, the real inventor on whom the story is based.