finding one's voice
— A thirteen-year-old writer rises at dawn on the summer solstice to watch the sunrise alone, finding validation for her literary dreams in nature's voice.
— A young pianist arrives for her lesson in a room filled with vanilla candles and Sesame Street stickers, then leaves with an assignment to compose a New Year's song.
— A working-class girl secretly drives four hours to audition at a prestigious music school with her grandmother's cello, hoping to win a scholarship her family can't afford.
— 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 middle school percussionist falsely accused of vandalizing band instruments uses computer skills to uncover the real culprit and learns about empathy along the way.
— In 1850, a sixteen-year-old girl who dreams of more than housework meets a stranger who takes her poetry to a printing press, changing her life forever.
— After her brother is executed for harming a sacred cat, a young Egyptian princess must decide whether to rule, marry, or abandon the throne when her father dies.
— 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.
— A young violist struggles with harsh criticism and self-doubt before finding confidence through an orchestra audition, culminating in both musical success and a first date.
— A twelve-year-old girl whose father hunts wolves for pelts rescues an orphaned wolf pup and, with help from the Animal Society, eventually convinces her father to stop commercial hunting.