"Bob Comet is a retired librarian, isolated but not lonely, living out his quiet days in a mint-colored house in Oregon, surrounded by his books and small comforts. One morning, out on his daily walk, he performs an act of kindness that brings him into contact with a nearby senior center, where he soon begins volunteering. Here, as a community of peers and friends gathers around Bob, and following a happenstance brush with a painful complication from...

Nipper the crab hates his huge, clumsy claws until his friend Octopus gets tangled up in some seaweed and only Nipper can free him.

Punchinello learns that it can be difficult, foolish, and even dangerous to try to keep up with the latest fads and that Eli, his maker, gave each Wemmick different characteristics on purpose.

An alligator feels different things from time to time, but they are all okay.

"A young Asian girl notices that her eyes look different from her peers'. They have big, round eyes and long lashes. She realizes that her eyes are like her mother's, her grandmother's, and her little sister's. They have eyes that kiss in the corners and glow like warm tea, crinkle into crescent moons, and are filled with stories of the past and hope for the future. Drawing from the strength of these powerful women in her life, she recognizes her...