After moving to a new neighborhood, a girl who is both a worrier and a problem solver meets a possible very good friend next door.

Originally published: Newtown, N.S.W.: Walker Books Australia, 2010.

With her knack for seeing the positive, six-year-old Violet anticipates extraordinary results after getting her tonsils removed, such as making a special new friend and turning her everyday voice into an opera voice.

As the youngest in her family, seven-year-old Violet identifies with small creatures in the natural world, but when she tries to help special ladybug, she learns an important lesson about animal habitats.

In this sixth story of the Violet Mackerel series, Violet and Rose start a very small protest to make a very big impact. Violet and Rose have shared their best secrets under the big oak tree in Clover Park. And they have found some very good small things there too. So when Johnson’s Tree Services stomps in and posts a sign that says PUBLIC NOTICE–TREE REMOVAL, they know that they must do something to stop them. When their first protest washes away in the rain, Violet and Rose feel discouraged. But then they realize that the sort of people who care most about small things, like birds not having nests and people not having a place to collect acorns, might also be the sort of people who notice very small protests. And that gives them a quite brilliant idea, one that just might save their tree, on behalf of all the small things—and small people—who love it.

Violet finds a special way to cope with moving to a new home after Mama marries Vincent.

Anna and Sadie have always been best friends so when Sadie suddenly starts being mean, Anna is very sad and seeks support from her dog Banana and classmate Isabel, as well as advice from her brother Chuck and her parents.