structural sophistication
— A Chicago teen resenting her family's move to San Francisco transforms into a fish at the beach, navigating dangers before accepting her new home.
— A 12-year-old's anxious inner monologue cycles through worries about jokes, death, regrets, and daily stresses in short, punchy lines.
— A girl discovers mysterious footprints leading into the ocean, searches for her missing brother, and befriends the reclusive neighbor who reveals she once cared for a dolphin-boy.
— A girl walks a PEI beach at dawn carrying her sister's stolen ashes, confronting grief until a mysterious dove appears and draws their family's secret symbol in the sand.
— A dreamlike poem where nothing and noone inhabit a valley of inverted colors and upside-down trees, until someone and everyone arrive to paint the sky with love.
— A grieving girl flees a school field trip on horseback, convinced that reaching a distant tree line will restore her dead father and lost life.
— Seventh graders torment a new student who attends class via video call, only to discover she has a disability when she finally arrives in person.
— After her parakeet dies, a girl receives a stone from a quiet classmate, then passes it to a grieving neighbor, discovering how small acts of kindness ripple outward.
— After her family cancels their annual carnival trip, an eleven-year-old runs away by bus to Lancaster, only to be immediately driven back home by her friend's mother.
— A young woman preparing for her wedding remembers her father's death when she was eight and realizes she must let go without forgetting as she asks her mother to walk...