illness
— A son remembers his father's devotion through baseball games, lucky charms, and math lessons, then chronicles his battle with ALS and the lasting impact of his loss.
— A girl falls from a tree house in 1949 and awakens from a seventeen-year coma to find her family aged, her best friend married to her brother, and the boy...
— A drama-loving girl accidentally breaks a precious jade elephant in an antique shop and offers to perform for the elderly owner's sick husband as recompense.
— After his mother's death, a boy who once hated writing discovers fiction and publishes a book dedicated to her memory, finding friendship with his former bully.
— A sixth-grader reluctantly rehearsing for his church's Christmas play gains new understanding of the shepherds' sacrifice when he postpones his birthday party to visit his injured elderly neighbor.
— A girl watches her paralyzed best friend secretly train for a year to ride again after a jumping accident, until their friendship is restored when Amy successfully jumps her horse.
— A twelve-year-old discovers seventy-five letters from 1919-1923 between her great-grandmother and a French pen pal, Cécile, who died at age twenty.
— A granddaughter observes her grandfather's dementia, as Holocaust memories resurface while present moments fade, yet his gentle spirit and their bond remain intact.
— In 1665 Madrid, thirteen-year-old Maria defies her father's arranged marriage plans and elopes with Edward, an English ambassador's son, to pursue her dream of writing novels.
— 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.