loss and grief
— A sixth-grader watches her imaginative pioneer game fall apart when popular kids mock it, realizing she and her friends are growing up and leaving childhood behind.
— During a military coup in Sierra Leone, a fifth-grader shelters with his embassy family, finding and symbolically discarding a bullet that represents the violence surrounding them.
— Eight-year-old Soon-Soon Wang flees Cultural Revolution China for America after her parents are taken by the government, leaving behind her best friend Xiao-Long.
— A city girl discovers freedom and friendship with wild-haired Robbie during a brief stay in the country, then must leave him behind.
— From a peach tree, a girl watches her sister ride and remembers her own horse Bosa, sold years ago, recalling their stubborn bond and the day they parted.
— A girl watches her sister ride horses while remembering her own beloved mare Bosa, sold years ago, and the adventures they shared together.
— A writer recalls her first trip to Alaska ten years ago, where she befriended a pack of wolves—Lakota, Pike, and Kepa—and witnessed their struggles to survive through a brutal winter.
— A girl visits her mother's grave before moving across the country, bringing roses and struggling to say goodbye until a mysterious breeze brings comfort.
— A girl struggling with writer's block finds inspiration in memories of her late father and writes through the night, discovering she's already won by making the effort.
— A young refugee from Kosovo mourns her father's death, expressing the emptiness of life without him and her identity as an orphan who brings roses to his grave.