resilience
— A lonely guard dragon, hardened by years of servitude, finds unexpected companionship when a starving fox pup steals food and curls up beside him for warmth.
— A school field trip continues despite torrential rain, leaving students soaked and miserable until they finally return to school after doing nothing but stand in the downpour.
— A man without food or water, beaten and robbed, continues to think only of love—revealed to be the poet's own experience.
— During California's 2020 wildfires, a girl wakes to an apocalyptic orange sky and wonders when the world will return to normal.
— An oak tree discovers purpose through seasons of loss and renewal, finding meaning not in being special but in providing shade, shelter, and friendship.
— Five vignettes explore monsoon rain in India, questions of faith and atheism, becoming an older sister, a medical emergency, and reflections on friendship and the pandemic.
— A refugee teen's defiant catalog of what takes courage — building schools, welcoming the homeless, staying human — versus what's easy: destroying, hurting, closing your eyes.
— A dialogue poem between two voices moves from invitation to fly, through a refugee's plea for help, to a declaration of collective strength and resistance.
— A boy struggles with writer's block on a memoir assignment until his family's support helps him realize he's been living the story he needs to write.
— Katrina's life changes when she befriends Mr. McCumber, a lonely old man, and later finds herself in an orphanage where she forms a chosen family with other orphaned girls.