family
— A girl prepares for prom in 1946, wearing a dress made from her brother's WWII parachute, reflecting on family sacrifice and finding beauty in hardship.
— A boy discovers his grandparents' chest of diaries in the attic, reading accounts from a homeless man, a Japanese-American internment camp, and a 90-year-old woman, ultimately deciding to start his...
— During a blizzard, a boy herding sheep on his uncle's poor farm rescues a nobleman trapped under a fallen stone at Stonehenge, potentially saving the family's fortunes.
— A girl recounts the life and death of her beloved white cat Moon, from finding her as a kitten at a yard sale to her tragic death under a car's...
— A thirteen-year-old bassoonist battles nerves and nausea before performing at Carnegie Hall, then discovers transcendence when she forgets her music and must play from memory.
— A poet escapes his chaotic household at night to write in the barn, where the sounds of sleeping animals inspire verses that flow from his heart.
— A girl runs eleven miles to the beach without planning, where observing oysters making pearls from irritating sand grains helps her reframe her frustrations with home life.
— An elf boy searches for rare ashberries to save a dragonfire victim, remembering how the same berries failed to save his father years before.
— A girl struggles with her rebellious golden retriever until he falls through ice into a river, and she jumps in to save him, realizing she loves him as he is.
— A young man becomes a rodeo bullfighter on the anniversary of his best friend's death, facing the same bull that killed him a year earlier.