January/February 2009
— 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 storm builds through vivid color and sound imagery — yellow light, scarlet glow, pounding rain, thunder — then retreats into peace.
— 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.
— The Joys of Love, by Madeleine L’Engle; Farrar, Straus and Giroux: New York, 2008; $16.95 When twenty-year-old Elizabeth is offered a chance to work as an apprentice at a summer...
— 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.
— A girl hangs laundry on a summer day, watching a monarch butterfly and mourning dove while sunlight transforms ordinary towels into an artist's palette.
— A newspaper delivery boy wrestles with his conscience on a brutally cold morning, ultimately choosing duty over comfort after reading about Andrew Carnegie.
— Hiroshima Dreams, by Kelly Easton; Dutton Children’s Books: New York, 2007; $16.99 “I have the gift of vision. It was given to me by my grandma, handed to me in...