Imprisoned by a cruel Japanese lord, a Mandarin duck almost dies until a servant frees him, being sentenced to death for unkind acts, she, in turn, is rescued by the duck and his mate.
"[Thirteen-year-old Lora] a young Cuban teenager ... volunteers for Fidel Castro's national literacy campaign and travels into the impoverished countryside to teach others how to read"--Amazon.
The life of a ten-year-old boy in rural Virginia expands when he becomes friends with a newcomer who subsequently meets an untimely death trying to reach their hideaway, Terabithia, during a storm.
