Little Eva #3

Little Eva and Nipper want to cheer up their sick friend Susie, so they decide to bake her a homemade cake—a plan that quickly spirals into comedy as their well-intentioned recipe-following goes hilariously awry. When they finally deliver their creation, the real surprises are just getting started in this charming 1958 tale of friendship and kitchen mishaps.

Little Eva's hoping the weather will get her out of her dancing lesson, so she enlists her dog Nipper to help create the perfect rainy-day excuse—but her scheme doesn't unfold quite the way she planned. A clever bit of 1950s scheming with a pint-sized protagonist who learns that sometimes nature needs a little help from a four-legged friend.

When Ike decides the neighborhood boys should be nice to Eva for a week—mostly as a scheme to snag an invitation to her upcoming party—his well-intentioned campaign quickly spirals into a series of hilarious mishaps and accidents that leave Eva wondering if kindness or chaos is actually their goal. Just when things seem hopeless, Eva extends an olive branch of her own, leading to a party where she and the girls turn the tables with their own special surprise for the boys.

When Little Eva's friend Nipper whips up a batch of homemade green soap using a chemistry set—complete with beer and perfume—he convinces her to test it out. The dye stains her face and hands, leading to a frantic chain of mishaps as she tries to cover up the color before dancing class, but a rainstorm turns her flour-covered face into a sticky paste. By the time she cleans up, Eva discovers that being green might actually be the height of fashion.

When Little Eva finds herself with nothing to do, she can't resist eavesdropping on the party line gossip between Mrs. Windbag and Widow Gabby—until her father catches her red-handed listening in. A quick lesson in minding one's own business wrapped up with a sweet twist that turns her snooping into an unexpected compliment.

Little Eva and her dog Nipper set out for an early morning stroll in the park, but when Eva absent-mindedly holds onto a bunch of balloons, they carry her high into the air and straight toward the zoo. After a chaotic landing that puts her face-to-face with a real lion, Eva must use her wits to survive an unexpected encounter in the animal cage. It's a wild adventure that starts with a simple walk and ends with a lesson about paying closer attention!

Little Eva decides it's time to grow up and convert her toy chest into a hope chest, starting with her mother's wedding dress—which fits her perfectly. When she shows off the gown to the neighborhood boys, expecting romantic proposals, she instead encounters a series of comedic misunderstandings that leave her thoroughly discouraged about marriage altogether. By story's end, Eva has learned that maybe she's not quite ready for a trousseau after all.