emotional depth
— A girl traces her evolving understanding of clouds from childhood fantasies of cotton candy and fairies to learning the water cycle in school, finding wonder in scientific truth.
— A refugee teen's defiant catalog of what takes courage — building schools, welcoming the homeless, staying human — versus what's easy: destroying, hurting, closing your eyes.
— A dialogue poem between two voices moves from invitation to fly, through a refugee's plea for help, to a declaration of collective strength and resistance.
— A thirteen-year-old discovers her first white hair and spirals through denial, envy, and fear before finding acceptance and a renewed sense of purpose.
— A boy struggles with writer's block on a memoir assignment until his family's support helps him realize he's been living the story he needs to write.
— Katrina's life changes when she befriends Mr. McCumber, a lonely old man, and later finds herself in an orphanage where she forms a chosen family with other orphaned girls.
— A girl tries to become like her perfect classmate Stella by copying her activities, but discovers her own talents and identity along the way.
— A girl navigates the birth of her baby brother, student council elections, and self-discovery while trying to become popular by imitating her perfect classmate.
— After a fire destroys their farm's crops and orchard, Oscar must decide whether to sell his beloved foal Rose to help his family survive the winter.
— In future Orlando sewers, sentient creatures made from garbage attempt to form a government, leading to chaos, tyranny, and one night of freedom above ground.