Karen Barss

An introduction to Martha the dog who began talking after eating alphabet soup.

Martha is not happy that summer will bring noisy weekly fireworks shows that will hurt her sensitive ears, so she organizes the local dogs to help Mrs. Demson's petition drive to get them banned, only to realize how unhappy that will make Helen.

"The football team's coach goes missing before the final game! Can Martha save the day before the Wagstaff dogs end up in the doghouse?"--P. [4] of cover.

When Martha rolls in garbage, she smells so bad that Helen's father refuses to let Martha back inside the house until she has a bath.

Martha visits a farm and helps with various farm chores.

After Alice takes sun protection to the extreme, she might have to miss Tiffany's pool party on the hottest day of summer, but Martha hatches a plan to make sure Alice doesn't miss the party.

Problems arise when Martha, the family dog, learns to speak after eating alphabet soup.

Martha is thrilled when Alice brings a new pet home from the animal shelter and she discovers it's a kitten.