home
— A Chinese-American teenager struggles with her immigrant family's stories of hardship until visiting her father's childhood home in rural China transforms her understanding.
— A hummingbird hovers at a window screen, holding the speaker's gaze in a moment of mutual wariness before vanishing in a green streak.
— A seven-year-old moves from California to Chicago, struggles with homesickness and lost friendships, then finds connection through soccer and a new friend named Jonathan.
— A girl annoyed by her younger neighbor's clinginess realizes she's the child's role model, just as an older girl once was for her.
— An 11-year-old processes her parents' divorce through a poem that moves from suppressed tears to overwhelming grief, cataloging each source of pain.
— A girl sent to live with grandparents in Maine because her family has eight children finds a stray kitten on the beach and realizes she hasn't been abandoned after all.
— A girl meets a shelter cat whose piteous call and pale green eyes transfix her, leading to adoption and the naming of Stella.
— Three sisters reluctantly move to a new house, discover a magical sphere that grants three wishes, and use them to find their lost dog and build a treehouse.
— A granddaughter and grandfather share quiet tea on the back porch, watching the sunset and listening to the world together in companionable silence.
— A Sri Lankan tea plucker works through pain and betrayal to earn enough money to buy her orphaned brother a birthday cake, discovering true friendship along the way.