friendship
— Five vignettes explore monsoon rain in India, questions of faith and atheism, becoming an older sister, a medical emergency, and reflections on friendship and the pandemic.
— 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.
— A thirteen-year-old questions the contradiction between flinching at physical closeness and yearning for connection, wondering if intimacy is possible without touch.
— Swifty navigates hip-hop classes, failed auditions, a new baby brother, and friendship drama while discovering drums and cutting her hair for charity.
— A guarded girl in group therapy reluctantly befriends Sam, who steals her journal but later reveals her own painful family story.
— Two next-door-neighbor boys share mint chocolate chip ice cream and play video games on a windy spring afternoon, their friendship revealed through accumulated details.
— Ten-year-old Tallulah struggles with leaving her small yellow house until she learns her aunt is moving into their old home, making the new place feel familiar.
— A city girl discovers a magical forest where animals talk and time moves differently, spending what she thinks is a year but is actually ten years researching nature.