atmospheric setting
— A Newfoundland girl finds a mysterious bottle on the shore, launches it with a carved whale inside, and watches it travel the world collecting treasures from children in different countries.
— A girl returns to an unchanged room filled with soap collections, antique brushes, and family memorabilia, finding comfort in its familiar details and lake views.
— A Maine family transforms their seafood restaurant into a tropical paradise when a nor'easter threatens to cancel the parents' long-awaited twentieth anniversary honeymoon to the Bahamas.
— A gondola ride on a New York lake at dusk becomes a meditation on the city's transformation as day turns to night, ending with the gondolier's Italian song.
— After losing a theater role, a girl flees to a creek where nature's calm gradually soothes her devastation and helps her find peace.
— A poem traces the transition from pre-dawn silence through the first bird's call to full morning chorus as day breaks.
— A boy hiding in an abandoned Paris theatre discovers ghostly musicians are his mother's orchestra, leading him to his grandfather, the famous conductor Alexandre Mierceles.
— A girl hides in her favorite tree before a dreaded doctor's visit, finding solace in the branches and sharing a poem that no one else appreciated.
— A magnificent buck stands guard at forest's edge, sensing danger, then battles a hungry cougar to protect the sleeping does and fawns.
— Two girls meet at a mountain overlook on Anne's last day before moving to California, sharing a moment of understanding about their respective losses and transitions.