Runt the turkey is much smaller than his brother, but his intelligence keeps his family from becoming Thanksgiving Day dinner.

The shortest kid in the second grade, James Moody, also known as Stink, learns all about the shortest president of the United States, James Madison, when they celebrate Presidents' Day at school. Every morning, Judy Moody measures Stink and it's always the same: three feet, eight inches tall. Stink feels like even the class newt is growing faster than he is. Then, one day, the ruler reads-can it be?-three feet, seven and three quarters inches! Is...