war
— A Japanese-American teenager recounts her family's forced internment during WWII, from receiving the summons through years at Manzanar to liberation that brings no true freedom.
— 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.
— During a dinner of liver and broccoli, a girl dreams she travels to Depression-era Berlin and wartime Vietnam, witnessing hungry children fighting over scraps.
— An 8-year-old processes 9/11 through the contrast between her safe home life, library escapes, and the frightening images on TV, wondering about children in other countries.
— A poem defines 'alone' through images of isolation: a homeless man at a grocery store, refugees fleeing, a mother who has lost her children, a turban among baseball caps.
— A poem that defines 'alone' through images of isolation: a homeless man at a grocery store, refugees fleeing, a pillar in rubble, an Iraqi mother, a turban among baseball caps.
— During a Nazi raid in occupied Denmark, a Danish girl hides her Jewish friend Leah in a closet, saved when a German soldier secretly pockets Leah's dropped Star of David...
— A girl watches her cat grooming and wonders what cats understand about human conflicts, terrorism, and whether they might govern the world better than humans do.
— A young pilot on the USS Yorktown experiences his first combat mission bombing Japanese carriers, losing his best friend and his romantic notions about war.