animals
— A boy watches snow transform the landscape and records the lives of forest creatures, while his father sees only an eyesore to remove.
— A ten-year-old Sioux boy participates in his first buffalo hunt, kills the largest buffalo in the herd, and earns his adult name, Buffalo Spirit.
— A girl with a walking stick from an old injury rescues her brother from the same river where she was hurt, finding courage through a butterfly's example.
— A salmon's perspective during its final leap upstream, narrowly escaping a grizzly bear's jaws before reaching calmer waters.
— During a thunderstorm, a Native American girl rescues a cardinal trapped in a flooding snake hole, names him Fire, and reluctantly releases him at dawn.
— A girl sneaks out at night to the boardwalk, discovers a manatee tangled in a net, rescues it with her parents' help, and later travels to Florida to release it.
— A girl tries to save her family's ancient oak tree by climbing into its branches, but fails; later finds solace when a cat makes a home in the fallen logs.
— A prose poem explores the color black through a series of sensory images, from crows to horses, culminating in a meditation on loss and racial identity.
— A girl meets a shelter cat whose piteous call and pale green eyes transfix her, leading to adoption and the naming of Stella.
— A girl watches wild horses from behind a rock, naming each one and calling them her 'silent friends' who don't know she exists.