cultural heritage

Story·Shannon Jin, age 12 — A Chinese-American teenager struggles with her immigrant family's stories of hardship until visiting her father's childhood home in rural China transforms her understanding.

Story·Olivia Michelle Smit, age 13 — A ten-year-old Sioux boy participates in his first buffalo hunt, kills the largest buffalo in the herd, and earns his adult name, Buffalo Spirit.

Story·Kimberly Vance, age 10 — A ten-year-old mariachi violinist battles stage fright before performing a Spanish love song solo at the International Mariachi Conference in Tucson.

Story·Maya Martin, age 12 — A girl reluctantly visits her Japanese American great-grandmother and learns about her imprisonment in internment camps during World War II, discovering untold history.

Story·Alice Ford, age 9 — After a friendship ruptures over a science project, Jess discovers her late mother's journals and plans a camping sleepover to reconcile with Bailey under the stars.

Story·Sammy Westfall, age 13 — A Filipino girl accompanies her mother to clean a wealthy American family's mansion and discovers that despite their poverty, her family has something the rich family lacks.

Story·Mathilde Fox-Smith, age 10 — A girl discovers her mother's missing camellias are being taken by a Mexican neighbor who weaves flower crowns, leading to friendship and tragedy when the neighbor's sister drowns.

Story·Sonia Carroll, age 12 — A Mexican-American girl learns to celebrate rather than mourn her grandmother's death during Día de los Muertos, finding her spirit in a monarch butterfly.

Story·Kika Kovaleski, age 10 — Eight-year-old Yuki experiences the upheaval of Japanese-American internment, losing herself in despair until a letter from her librarian and an unexpected kindness help her find hope again.

Story·Ellie Woody, age 13 — An adopted Korean girl visits her birth village on Easter, confronting the life she might have lived before choosing the family who raised her.