Tales From Deckawoo Drive Books in Order

Tales From Deckawoo Drive is a companion series to the Mercy Watson books, written for readers who are ready for slightly longer chapters and more text but still enjoy big doses of humor and heart. Instead of centering the toast-loving pig, each volume hands the spotlight to a different neighbor or side character from Mercy’s world.

The first book, Leroy Ninker Saddles Up, follows a former would‑be thief who now works at the Bijou Drive-In concession stand but dreams of being a real cowboy. When Leroy meets Maybelline, a spaghetti‑loving horse with only four teeth, his life suddenly includes late‑night rides, responsibility, and the possibility of true companionship. Later books shift to other corners of Gizzford County. Francine Poulet Meets the Ghost Raccoon puts the county’s top animal control officer up against a shrieking, possibly supernatural raccoon that rattles her famed bravery. Where Are You Going, Baby Lincoln? lets quiet Baby slip away from bossy sister Eugenia for a Necessary Journey by train, where she discovers that she can make her own choices.

In Eugenia Lincoln and the Unexpected Package, rigid, rule‑bound Eugenia is forced to deal with the arrival of an accordion she never asked for, and with the unsettling possibility that joy might find her in spite of herself. Stella Endicott and the Anything-Is-Possible Poem moves into the schoolyard, where imaginative Stella clashes with literal-minded classmate Horace Broom over a poem about Mercy and ends up locked in a janitor’s closet with him. Franklin Endicott and the Third Key gives a deeply anxious boy a small mystery to solve in a dusty key shop, gently exploring what it means to live with worry.

The series culminates in Mercy Watson is Missing!, a longer, full‑color adventure that gathers nearly every character readers have met on Deckawoo Drive. When Mercy disappears, neighbors, children, and even a slightly hapless private investigator fan out in search of hoofprints and the scent of butter.

Compared with the original Mercy Watson books, the Deckawoo Drive stories dig a little further into each character’s fears and hopes. The tone is still light and accessible, but DiCamillo uses the extra pages to let her heroes make mistakes, doubt themselves, and grow. Themes of courage, independence, friendship, and second chances run through the series, often wrapped in running gags and small-town detail.

These books can be read on their own or after the Mercy Watson series. Either way, they expand the neighborhood in satisfying ways, showing that every seemingly minor character—whether a fussy accordion-hater or a boy who worries about black holes—has a rich story of their own.