family bonds
— A grieving girl flees a school field trip on horseback, convinced that reaching a distant tree line will restore her dead father and lost life.
— A child's memory of digging in sand and being lifted by their father above ocean waves captures a moment of perfect safety and belonging.
— A child recalls digging in sand and being lifted by their father over crashing waves, finding belonging in that moment of safety and joy.
— After her family cancels their annual carnival trip, an eleven-year-old runs away by bus to Lancaster, only to be immediately driven back home by her friend's mother.
— A young woman preparing for her wedding remembers her father's death when she was eight and realizes she must let go without forgetting as she asks her mother to walk...
— After cruelly rejecting her younger brother's attempts to draw in her sketchbook, a girl learns he's been in a car accident and rushes to the hospital with her sketchbook.
— A seventh-grader who loves baking in a family that doesn't understand him proves his worth by making extraordinary brownies that win them over.
— A girl reflects on eating chicken in China and at home, connecting the meals to her birth year of the rooster and what traditions mean across cultures.
— A mute girl who finds solace in nature befriends a mountain cat family, discovers she can communicate telepathically with them, and runs away from her divorcing parents who plan to...
— A girl dreams of descending through ocean layers to encounter a mysterious jellyfish, then wakes to ordinary life while harboring her grandfather's secret journal of undiscovered sea creatures.