emotional depth
— A boy learns his parents are divorcing, finds solace in his golden retriever Lucky, and escapes into baseball—both through books and a Giants game.
— Two sisters saying goodbye to their favorite cloud-watching spot before moving discover a bird-shaped cloud at their new home by the ocean.
— A newly adopted Japanese girl struggles to adjust to her American home until her museum-worker father brings her a tiny tea cup from a Japanese Friendship Doll exhibit.
— During the Civil War, eight-year-old Tom struggles to support his mother after his father and brother join the Union army, culminating in a Confederate raid and miraculous reunion.
— In 1957 Ohio, a lonely girl befriends an elderly Cherokee boarder who brings the first snow in twenty years and teaches her that she is loved.
— A girl runs away after her father's sled dogs die in the Iditarod, gets lost in a blizzard, and is saved by her dogs, leading to reconciliation with her father.
— In 1942 Philippines, a ten-year-old girl watches her family's sugar plantation burn as American forces evacuate them to prevent Japanese occupation of their home.
— Empty swings whisper in a park as a boy calls after Margaret, who has become a ghostly blur running away on stone paths.
— A self-conscious girl travels to Ireland to stay with relatives and discovers her pink-haired cousin Bridget is a talented artist dealing with her father's recent departure.
— During a sea voyage, a girl haunted by nightmares of her disapproving father seeks his forgiveness after their argument about her joining the journey.