authentic voice
— A child climbs a metaphorical ladder to sleep, ascending through expanding views from house to world, then drifting back down into dreams.
— 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 girl climbs an ancient Sequoia on her family's tree farm, watches an osprey soar past, and records the moment in her tree-kept poetry book.
— A girl contemplates her love for New York City while recognizing her mother's longing for San Francisco, exploring different kinds of beauty and belonging.
— A seventh-grader befriends a new Muslim student and successfully advocates to the school board for her right to wear a hijab after their teacher bans it.
— Two sisters on their Florida vacation sunrise walk discover baby sea turtles being attacked by seagulls and devise a plan to save them.
— A boy watches from his hillside home as flood waters from Deer Mountain devastate his village below, imagining the mountain as an angry deity.
— A mother discovers her childhood photo album with her daughter, triggering memories of her last night with best friends before they were separated by different high schools.
— 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.