January/February 2003
— A young pianist arrives for her lesson in a room filled with vanilla candles and Sesame Street stickers, then leaves with an assignment to compose a New Year's song.
— A boy befriends the new girl in kindergarten over a shared pear, abandons her when teased, then seeks redemption years later by offering her another pear.
— A Real American by Richard Easton; Clarion Books: New York, 2002; $15 This is the heartfelt story of two young boys becoming friends under some very adverse conditions. Nathan McClelland...
— A working-class girl secretly drives four hours to audition at a prestigious music school with her grandmother's cello, hoping to win a scholarship her family can't afford.
— A girl struggles with jealousy when her best friend moves away and writes about a new friend, then receives an unexpected gift that teaches her about friendship's capacity to expand.
— A grandmother tells her granddaughter how, as a six-year-old lost in a blizzard, she was saved after kissing a mezuzah on a stranger's door—where her future husband found her.
— The School Story by Andrew Clements; Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers: New York, 2001; $16 Have you ever wondered how children get their books published? I know I...
— A mountaineer separated from his team in a whiteout falls into a crevasse, is rescued by a yeti, and makes a harrowing solo descent to reach base camp.
— A Korean boy moves to America to join his father but cannot speak English aloud until a chess game with his tutor breaks through his fear.
— After her beloved Siamese cat Silver Blue dies in a car accident, a girl rejects a replacement kitten until one cold night when the kitten's comfort helps her accept loss...