change
— A girl remembers her terror at starting preschool as she prepares to leave for college, finding her mother crying on her bed in a reversal of their old roles.
— A thirteen-year-old realizes his best friend and sister are falling for each other during a boat trip to a diner, then bikes to a neighbor's house seeking new friendship.
— A red leaf falls from a tree in autumn twilight and becomes caught in a spider's web, their patterns intertwining in the dawn light.
— After three years in Texas, a girl returns to North Carolina expecting everything unchanged, but discovers both she and her childhood friends have transformed while their bond endures.
— Rebecca learns she must move away from her three best friends, but three years later discovers she's moving back to her hometown.
— A child walks along a canal towpath, observing nature's beauty alongside human intrusion—from dragonflies and turtles to litter and a dying fish.
— A teenage rider navigates barn politics and an annoying younger rider while contemplating her family's upcoming move to Wisconsin.
— Autumn transforms from blazing red leaves and jack-o-lanterns to encroaching night, frost, and brittle mushrooms frozen like victims of Medusa's stare.
— Two best friends drift apart when one becomes popular in seventh grade, but reconnect at a summer party where apologies and a leap into the lake restore their bond.
— Late geese flying south become a mourning choir whose honks lament autumn's end and winter's arrival, their voices mistaken for hunting hounds.