Stories
— A boy discovers his natural rock-climbing talent during a family vacation, then faces his first real test when his sister's life hangs in the balance on a Greek cliff.
— A girl narrates her family's early morning departure from North Carolina to Texas, struggling to accept leaving the only home she's ever known.
— A girl receives a mysterious package containing both an elf hat that once excluded her and her childhood Hanukkah hat, forcing her to reconsider identity and belonging.
— A father's harsh parenting drives his son away, and only as the son lies dying from an attack in India do they finally exchange the words 'good night' they never...
— A farm family loses their home to bank foreclosure and moves to a West Virginia coal mining town, where they find hope in staying together despite the difficult changes.
— Three friends walk a private beach as tensions rise over Ally's choice between divorced parents—staying in California with her mother or moving to New York with her father and brother.
— A fourteen-year-old Confederate soldier marches through dawn fog to ambush a Union camp, then confronts the horror of killing boys his own age.
— Two cousins play an elaborate game of orphan sisters surviving in the jungle, transforming a suburban yard into a world of tigers and adventure.
— A boy in an orphanage experiences vivid dreams of a jungle that begin bleeding into reality, leading him to discover his connection to an enslaved ancestor.
— A girl sent to an Italian convent school to stop her from painting secretly learns from an old man in the town plaza and ultimately convinces her mother to let...