summer
— Cool summer nights become a canvas where stars rewrite the world, breezes snake through ivy, and memory crystallizes into art.
— A young person stands at the edge of a swimming hole, heart racing with summer adrenaline, before finally dropping into the dark blue water below.
— A girl attends her father's opening night performance in an opera about the atomic bomb, where the show's depiction of nuclear devastation awakens her anger about historical injustice.
— A counting poem tracks a day's progression from winter owls at 2 a.m. through summer heat, using numbers to structure observations of daily life.
— A 13-year-old chronicles raising her 4-H pig Ash from spring to fair, knowing she'll have to sell him for slaughter, wrestling with love and loss.
— A girl arrives at a family gathering in North Carolina, plays with cousins, collects wood for a fire, and finds home in the sensory details of the reunion.
— A girl arrives at a family gathering in North Carolina, plays with cousins, collects firewood, and finds home in the sensory details of the reunion around a bonfire.
— A Chicago teen resenting her family's move to San Francisco transforms into a fish at the beach, navigating dangers before accepting her new home.
— A girl who can't ride a bike faces humiliation at bike camp until she meets Rosie, another struggling rider who offers genuine friendship.
— A seventh-grader who loves baking in a family that doesn't understand him proves his worth by making extraordinary brownies that win them over.