A young girl finds a way to tame the winds besieging an old man who lives on a hill above her village.

One dark bird is perched up high, with a view of the town and a taste of the sky. Then she’s joined by two more, then three, then four. Before long, there are hundreds of starlings dancing across the sky—and avoiding a hunting hawk with one of the most spectacular tricks in the animal kingdom. Then, when night comes, the starlings begin to depart, until finally there is just one dark bird perched way up high, with a view of the town and a taste...

A classroom of exuberant youngsters explores art in its most varied forms, from painting, music, and writing to cooking and performing.

"When Lulu's feeling well, she climbs every tree in sight. But when Lulu's sick, all she has is her imagination and a shadow"--

Throughout a child's day, five minutes can go by quickly (when you are on a roller coaster) or slowly (when you are in the dentist's chair).

"Once in your life, sometime after your first memory but before you can drive a car, something is going to happen to you that doesn't happen to anyone else you know. It might be something good. It might be something bad, or special, or funny, or shocking. For Millie, it's something really sad. Lolo, her neighbors' infant daughter, dies--unexpectedly, suddenly, inexplicably--on the night Millie babysits. There's nothing she could have done. There's...

"When a young boy gets a cold, he just wants his mommy. But his stuffy nose makes it difficult for him to call out to his mom--not 'Bob,' who happens to be the family dog"--