Stories
— A girl allergic to fur finds companionship in a praying mantis named Forget Me Not, who becomes a beloved pet before laying eggs and dying in the family's arms.
— A circus clown loses his beloved leopard partner in a tragic accident, returns home to save his family's farm, marries his childhood sweetheart, then loses their daughter in another animal...
— A father and daughter paddle across a foggy lake at dawn, observing wildlife until a beaver slaps its tail in warning before disappearing into its dam.
— In a Bedouin camp, a girl resents her father's new wife until she learns the woman cannot have children and was married out of compassion, not replacement.
— A mother tells her daughter about strangers who helped her stuck car in a blizzard years ago, and how she repaid their kindness by helping others on snowy roads.
— A feared substitute bus driver called 'No Mercy Mercer' turns out to be a gentle grandfather who uses his tough reputation to maintain order on the bus.
— A young pilot on the USS Yorktown experiences his first combat mission bombing Japanese carriers, losing his best friend and his romantic notions about war.
— Two sisters leave their island home after a baby's drowning, sent to live with their aunt on the mainland while their mother recovers from grief.
— A girl loses her beloved tiger Beanie Baby at the beach, and the story alternates between her grief and the stuffed animal's ocean adventure before their reunion.
— In 1850, a sixteen-year-old girl who dreams of more than housework meets a stranger who takes her poetry to a printing press, changing her life forever.