Stories
— 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.
— A young snowboarder conquers his most feared slope on the last run of the season, jumping a mogul and experiencing freedom before tearfully saying goodbye until next year.
— During the Irish Potato Famine, a girl on a coffin ship to America remembers losing her family to starvation and the promise she couldn't keep to her dying sister.
— After his older brother leaves for college, a boy finds solace in their old fort and rescues a fallen fledgling, seeing his own loss reflected in the abandoned bird.