belonging
— A young writer expresses the desire to dissolve boundaries between self and nature, imagining feet sinking into dirt, floating as water, swaying in trees.
— A new fourth-grader navigates between popular girls who mock imaginative play and Phyllis, who plays animal games like her old best friend used to.
— Ellen struggles with the end of sixth grade as half her classmates leave for different schools, but finds peace by reconnecting with a friend who's staying.
— A German girl bullied for her old-fashioned name finds friendship with an American newcomer, then saves her from Neo-Nazi teenagers threatening her for money.
— 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 German girl bullied for her old-fashioned name finds her first friend in an American newcomer, then must overcome her fear to save her from Neo-Nazi attackers.
— A boy recounts his great-grandfather's forced migration from Mexico and the miraculous journey of his dalmatian Pinto, who tracked him 2000 miles to California before dying of exhaustion.
— A daughter and father bond over an Avalanche-Blues playoff game in enemy territory, their first real connection after twelve years of distance.
— A girl raised by lions in Africa encounters humans who might be her birth parents and must choose between two families.
— A girl goes cross-country skiing with her grandfather in winter woods, gets separated from him, hears a pack of coyotes, and feels a deep connection to the forest.