Fourteen authors, including Lois Lowry, Walter Dean Myers, Linda Sue Park, Louis Sachar, Jon Scieszka, M. T. Anderson, Kate DiCamillo, and others, write stories inspired by the pictures published by Chris Van Allsburg in 1984.

Introduction /by Lemony Snicket -- Archie Smith, Boy Wonder / by Tabitha King -- Under the rug / by Jon Scieszka -- A strange day in July / by Sherman Alexie -- Missing in Venice / by Gregory Maguire -- Another place, another time / by Cory Doctorow -- Uninvited guests / by Jules Feiffer -- The harp / by Linda Sue Park -- Mr. Linden's library / by Walter Dean Myers -- The seven chairs / by Lois Lowry -- The third-floor bedroom / by Kate DiCamillo -- Just desert / by M.T. Anderson -- Captain Tory / by Louis Sachar -- Oscar and Alphonse: the Farkas Conjecture / by Chris Van Allsburg -- The house on Maple Street / by Stephen King -- Original introduction to The mysteries of Harris Burdick / by Chris Van Allsburg.