imagination
— A sixth-grader watches her imaginative pioneer game fall apart when popular kids mock it, realizing she and her friends are growing up and leaving childhood behind.
— A new fourth-grader navigates between popular girls who mock imaginative play and Phyllis, who plays animal games like her old best friend used to.
— A girl sent to shovel snow becomes the Snow Queen in her winter palace, watching ice ballerinas fall from the sky until her father joins her imagination.
— A girl watches her mysterious neighbor Rochelle for years before discovering she's created an elaborate kingdom from stones, each with names and personalities.
— Two sisters create a secret midnight world for their stuffed animals in the woods, rebuild it after destruction, and return twenty years later with their own daughters.
— A child climbs a metaphorical ladder to sleep, ascending through expanding views from house to world, then drifting back down into dreams.
— An English girl grieving her father's death moves to Germany and creates a magical world in the apartment building's garden, finding friendship through imagination.
— A boy navigates a sweltering forest, sensing danger and preparing to face a bear with his spear, until his mother's voice calling about homework breaks the spell.
— A girl diving into a pool transforms through daydreams into a bird, fish, and otter before a bump returns her to reality at the diving board.
— A boy transforms his backyard into an epic racetrack where he finally defeats his rival, the 'Dashing Devil,' in an imagined footrace through fall leaves and mud.