Mother Possum is in despair because her son cannot learn to play dead without laughing.

A summer classic by two masters, reissued and redesigned for contemporary audiences. Wendell Minor's elegant artwork and Charlotte Zolotow's simple, evocative prose brings a day at the beach vividly to life as a boy and his mother imagine what it would be like to spend a day at the seashore.

When a boy leaves cupcake crumbs in his bed, what's the worst that can happen? It's no big deal ... until Vlad shows up and wants an entire cupcake. And then more barbarians take over the TV room ... and the garage! They use the school supplies to scratch their hairy backs! The exterminator won't take the case, and mousetraps don't work. What can the family do?