atmospheric setting
— A Pacific Northwest autumn storm transforms Douglas firs and ocean cliffs into a world of fog, rain, and distant waves.
— A teenage girl recounts the day her family's beloved pond became the site of tragedy when a six-year-old Amish boy drowned during a gathering.
— A girl's last morning on a Nova Scotia island turns into a fog-bound adventure when their boat gets lost, leading to an unexpected sail on a schooner.
— 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.
— 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 speaker encounters an ancient, painted figure by firelight, and together they lie beneath stars, bridging time through shared wonder.
— 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...
— A girl escapes to a secret clearing in the woods where she experiences brief moments of becoming the creatures around her—squirrel, robin, blade of grass.