belonging
— A homesick boy dreads going to sleep-away camp but discovers acceptance and friendship through a baseball game where his teammates encourage rather than mock him.
— A Korean boy moves to America to join his father but cannot speak English aloud until a chess game with his tutor breaks through his fear.
— A young writer captures the vibrant sounds of a Mexican fiesta through bilingual verse, celebrating mariachis, street vendors, and women making tortillas.
— Two sisters leave their island home after a baby's drowning, sent to live with their aunt on the mainland while their mother recovers from grief.
— After a baby's drowning death, thirteen-year-old Eve and her sister are sent from their Massachusetts island home to the mainland while their mother recovers from grief.
— 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 shy, homeschooled boy moves to a new home and clashes with local children over a magnificent maple tree, eventually finding friendship through shared love of nature and horses.
— A lonely girl who volunteers at an animal shelter discovers that music calms an aggressive dog no one else can handle, leading to friendship and her first pet.
— During the Pearl Harbor attack, a young Japanese-American woman searches desperately for her brother among the wreckage while confronting sudden hostility from her neighbors.
— A Black doctor arrives in 1960s rural Pennsylvania to take over a practice, faces racist vandalism and rejection, then gains acceptance after rescuing a white child from a well.