loss and grief
— A girl who resents her difficult grandfather discovers her love for him only when he's hospitalized with a heart attack and gives her a locket containing a photo of them...
— A girl at summer camp bonds with a barn kitten named Oreo, plans to adopt him, but he runs away before she can return from vacation.
— A teenage girl recounts the day her family's beloved pond became the site of tragedy when a six-year-old Amish boy drowned during a gathering.
— A girl narrates her family's early morning departure from North Carolina to Texas, struggling to accept leaving the only home she's ever known.
— When her best friend Aisha's brother is jailed and the family must flee to Singapore, Melly struggles to support her friend through crisis and impending separation.
— A father's harsh parenting drives his son away, and only as the son lies dying from an attack in India do they finally exchange the words 'good night' they never...
— Three friends walk a private beach as tensions rise over Ally's choice between divorced parents—staying in California with her mother or moving to New York with her father and brother.
— A fourteen-year-old Confederate soldier marches through dawn fog to ambush a Union camp, then confronts the horror of killing boys his own age.
— A mother discovers her childhood photo album with her daughter, triggering memories of her last night with best friends before they were separated by different high schools.
— A grandfather shares his Holocaust survival story with his grandchild, from separation to liberation, ending with both in tears.