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— A girl struggles with jealousy when her best friend moves away and writes about a new friend, then receives an unexpected gift that teaches her about friendship's capacity to expand.
— A grandmother tells her granddaughter how, as a six-year-old lost in a blizzard, she was saved after kissing a mezuzah on a stranger's door—where her future husband found her.
— A Korean boy moves to America to join his father but cannot speak English aloud until a chess game with his tutor breaks through his fear.
— A middle school percussionist falsely accused of vandalizing band instruments uses computer skills to uncover the real culprit and learns about empathy along the way.
— A black cat survives a hit-and-run, loses her leg, and finds purpose when adopted by a mother seeking comfort for her son with cancer.
— A circus clown loses his beloved leopard partner in a tragic accident, returns home to save his family's farm, marries his childhood sweetheart, then loses their daughter in another animal...
— In a Bedouin camp, a girl resents her father's new wife until she learns the woman cannot have children and was married out of compassion, not replacement.
— A cacophony of crying baby sounds builds to overwhelming intensity until suddenly the infant sleeps and the house transforms into exaggerated silence.
— A young writer captures the vibrant sounds of a Mexican fiesta through bilingual verse, celebrating mariachis, street vendors, and women making tortillas.
— Two sisters leave their island home after a baby's drowning, sent to live with their aunt on the mainland while their mother recovers from grief.