water
— While watering tomato plants, a boy watches water flood an ant colony and desperately tries to save drowning ants, reflecting on empathy and the value of small lives.
— A foster girl discovers a mermaid near her temporary home on an island, reads a diary from 1820 about the same creature, and chooses to join the underwater world.
— A snake's morning routine along the Mississippi River ends abruptly with an encounter with a wheel, told through sensory details and simple movements.
— During the 1953 Netherlands flood, twelve-year-old Sieke is separated from her family and spends a terrifying night caring for a lost little girl before both are reunited with their families.
— A boy showing off in an old boat gets swept downriver at night, then ingeniously lassos a giant snapping turtle to pull him to shore at dawn.
— A girl who believes she's bad at everything discovers kayaking, overcomes her fear after tipping over, and places second in a race.
— A teenage girl recounts the day her family's beloved pond became the site of tragedy when a six-year-old Amish boy drowned during a gathering.
— A child swimming with her father discovers strength in diving under waves instead of fighting them, finding joy in the ocean's power.
— A boy watches from his hillside home as flood waters from Deer Mountain devastate his village below, imagining the mountain as an angry deity.
— A girl escapes to a secret clearing in the woods where she experiences brief moments of becoming the creatures around her—squirrel, robin, blade of grass.