loss
— A young refugee from Kosovo mourns her father's death, expressing the emptiness of life without him and her identity as an orphan who brings roses to his grave.
— A foster brother recalls two years with Jack, an orphan boy who arrived scared and angry but slowly learned to play, trust, and eventually found adoptive parents.
— A scarlet macaw recounts his life with a Cuban immigrant family in Florida, their separation during Hurricane Andrew, and their eventual reunion when he saves his young owner from an...
— 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 young racehorse named Judy Garland faces her fears on a muddy track, gets injured in fog, but places second through determination and discovers meaning beyond victory.
— A girl befriends her new neighbor Jessica, who gradually reveals manipulative behavior, steals a family heirloom, and drives a wedge between the narrator and her best friend.
— A boy returns to his late grandfather's wilderness farm for the first time since his death, finding solace when sunlight breaks through storm clouds onto a magnolia tree.
— 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 Jewish boy flees to Switzerland with an aging WWI veteran during the Nazi occupation, learning to see beyond hero worship to understand human complexity.
— A girl loses her childhood best friend when their families take opposite sides during the American Revolution's Stamp Act crisis, their final parting at a harbor as he sails away.