Stories
— A boy who can speak to animals flees with his wolf-dog when a monster called an Alarcon hunts him for his powers, ultimately escaping when a condor saves them from...
— In drought-stricken Africa, a girl's beloved zebra friend is sacrificed to save her dying mother, then the rains finally come.
— During WWI's Christmas truce of 1914, a young soldier gives his aunt's ugly sweater to a sick German soldier who returns it decades later on a lonely Christmas Eve.
— A shy girl befriends the barefoot new student who claims to be a princess, then betrays her under peer pressure, only to discover the true meaning of friendship after Irah...
— A boy promises his injured grandfather he'll win the 400-meter dash, the same race that ended his grandfather's track career decades earlier.
— A girl arrives home from school to an empty house and contemplates how the world continues moving while she stands still in her quiet kitchen.
— An 11-year-old recalls visiting her mother's cousin Marie on an Irish farm, witnessing her sudden illness, and learning of her death two weeks later on St. Patrick's Day.
— A lonely girl who plays harp privately joins a youth symphony at her mother's urging and meets a potential friend who offers to help her.
— A young bat falls from the sky during a storm, is rescued by a muskrat, steals her family pearl, then saves her from a hunter when guilt overwhelms him.
— A popular middle schooler rejects her childhood friend at lunch, then finds her grandmother's photo and realizes she's betrayed her values for social status.