finding one's voice
— A popular middle schooler rejects her childhood friend at lunch, then finds her grandmother's photo and realizes she's betrayed her values for social status.
— A newspaper delivery boy wrestles with his conscience on a brutally cold morning, ultimately choosing duty over comfort after reading about Andrew Carnegie.
— A young Egyptian girl yearns to help build Pharaoh Cheops' pyramid while managing household duties and missing her parents, who return unexpectedly at story's end.
— A young gymnast fails to complete her back walkover during competition but returns to the empty gym afterward and finally succeeds, finding meaning in the unwitnessed achievement.
— A Muslim girl struggles with shyness and prejudice at her new Brooklyn school until she stands up to bullies and finds an unexpected friend in a Jewish classmate.
— Three friends spend a summer day cloud-watching, playing word games, climbing rocks, and spinning down hills until they're dizzy and mud-covered.
— A young ballet dancer auditions for Odette in Swan Lake, loses to her rival Michelle, but gets to perform when Michelle injures her ankle during opening night.
— A seventh-grader with a lifelong crush on her neighbor plans to reveal her feelings at the Valentine's dance, but gets the flu and misses it—until a midnight mailbox exchange changes...
— A girl hides in her favorite tree before a dreaded doctor's visit, finding solace in the branches and sharing a poem that no one else appreciated.
— A nervous rider and her pony overcome a disastrous warm-up to deliver a near-perfect show jumping round, discovering their hidden connection in the process.