loss
— On Christmas Day, a girl discovers one of her ducks killed by a weasel, then incubates the duck's last egg to hatch a duckling she names CJ.
— A poem traces the cycle of grief from fresh loss through fading memory to sudden, sharp remembrance that brings the pain flooding back.
— A six-year-old loses his orange Croc over the Stone Arch Bridge and imagines it floating down the Mississippi to Louisiana, carrying its mystery.
— A girl struggles with her family's move to Hawaii and her father's engagement, finding peace only when she discovers her mother's spirit remains with her.
— A second-grader's world shifts when her beloved teacher announces his retirement, sending her through grief, illness, and eventual acceptance over the course of a school year.
— A thirteen-year-old girl remembers her brother's journey from playful teenager to soldier while processing the news that he's missing in action in Afghanistan.
— A girl visits her grandmother with Alzheimer's at a retirement home, grapples with a missing wedding ring, and finds peace when her grandmother hears angels singing.
— A volunteer at a goat farm becomes attached to a sickly newborn goat she names Barney, nurses him to health, then must find him a loving home when he's sold.
— A child recalls dancing in autumn leaves before moving south, where a photograph preserves what geography has taken away.
— After his parents' divorce, Jasper struggles to adjust to life with his mother until he finds solace at a dock by the sea and learns a hard truth from his...