A 5-year-old boy with a unique way of seeing the world feels alienated from his mother and tells her that he does not need her anymore. This viewpoint later causes him to lash out at his family, leading him to reflect on himself and his life.

An orphan boy has a chance encounter with a strange woman who lives up the street from him. Without any guardians to protect him, the boy is coerced into transforming, becoming unrecognizable in the process.

A little girl navigates her relationships with two boys in her elementary school class, a brash bully and a shy victim, and learns about the nature of suffering.

A young boy grows up avoiding his abusive mother and idolizing two men in his life: his father and a boy in his class. But when both of his heroes betray him, he turns to his mother for comfort.

A rambunctious teenager with an inquisitive mind causes much grief for all his New England family and neighbors when he visits them in the summer of 1914, on the eve of World War I.

A four-year-old black boy vaguely recalls a mixture of occurrences that puzzled him, including a sentenced hanging in his town of a man who allegedly murdered his wife.

A young girl works to impress her highly critical parents and submits to a terrible fate as she struggles to meet their impossible standards.

A five year old child to a new home in a sandy region near miners and must navigate the seemingly random changes and curious characters she meets along the way.

A man develops a deep interest in the author of a children's book he reads to his daughters. Ignoring his wife's confusion and mild disapproval, he goes to visit the author's old house and takes his daughters with him.

A young boy eagerly waits all year for his mare to birth a colt. The barn hand promises the boy that he will make sure nothing happens to the colt, but keeping his promise comes at a tragic cost.