1. ON RELATIONSHIPS 3
Losing the Us Lia Gay 3
After a While Veronica A. Shoffstall 7
Soul Mates Fran Leb 8
The Miss of a Great Miss Jack Schlatter 11
My First Kiss, and Then Some Mary Jane West-Delgado 14
First Kiss—First Lesson Jennifer Braunschweiger 17
Changes in Life Sheila K. Reyman 25
First Love Mary Ellen Klee 28
A High School Love Not Forgotten Diana L. Chapman 31
2. ON FRIENDSHIP 36
Betty Ann Ina Hughs 36
The Gossiper Author Unknown 41
A Simple Christmas Card Theresa Peterson 42
Please Listen Author Unknown 45
She Told Me It Was Okay to Cry Daphna Renan 47
Lessons in Friendship A. J. Langer 49
Always Return Your Phone Calls Anonymous 54
My New Best Friend Retold by Kimberly Kirberger 56
The Days of Cardboard Boxes Eva Burke 58
3. ON FAMILY 66
She Didn t Give Up on Me Sharon Whitley 66
Mama s Hands Tommi Jo Casteel 71
Unconditional Mom Sarah J. Vogt 73
The Bible Beckah Fink 77
The Birthday Melissa Esposito 79
The Home Run Terri Vandermark 82
My Big Brother Lisa Gumenick 83
A Brother s Voice James Malinchak 86
Daddy Weirdest Rebecca Barry 89
A Famous Father Author Unknown 94
Lessons in Baseball Chick Moorman 95
The Champ As told by Nailah Malik, the Vela Storyteller 98
I Love You, Dad Nick CurryⅢ 100
I Am Home Jennie Garth 103
4. ON LOVE AND KINDNESS 107
Tigress Judith S. Johnessee 107
Bright Heart Jennifer Love Hewitt 111
The Secret of Happiness the Speaker s Sourcebook 114
Reaching out to a Stranger Barbara A. Lewis 116
Smile Barbara Hauck 120
Mrs. Link Susan Daniels Adams 122
A Mason-Dixon Memory Clifton Davis 124
The Mirror Robert Fulghum 131
A Gift for Two Andrea Hensley 133
Life Just Isn t Katie Leicht 135
Tell the World for Me John Powell,S. J. 138
Like People First Kent Nerburn 142
Lilacs Bloom Every Spring blue jean magazine 146
Paint Brush Bettie B. Youngs 150
5. ON LEARNING 153
Egg Lessons Kimberly Kirberger 153
A Long Walk Home Jason Bocarro 157
The Cost of Gratefulness Randal Jones 160
I Try to Remember Author Unknown 163
Mrs. Virginia DeView, Where Are You? Diana L. Chapman 167
What s Wrong? The Speaker s Sourcebook 172
The Eternal Gifts Jack Schlatter 174
Socrates Retold by Eric Saperston 178
Challenge Days As told to Andrew Tertes 180
Please Hear What I m Not Saying Jill Zevalcos-Solak 184
I Am Amy Yerkes 187
Sparky Bits Pieces 190
Detention Can Be Fun Bill Cosby 192
Eleven Sandra Cisneros 198
6. TOUGH STUFF 203
I ll Always Be with You Dale and Dar Emme 203
My Story Lia Gay 208
Somebody Should Have Taught Him Retold by Jane Watkins 211
Just One Drink Chris Laddish 213
The Dance Tony Arata 215
The Premonition Bruce Burch 217
Dead at 17 John Berrio 223
I ll Be Looking for You, Ace Jennifer Lohrfink 225
Gabby, You re Sooo Skinny Gabriella Tortes 229
Last Wish Christi Galloway 233
Gold-Medal Winner Rick Metzger 237
Anne Ina Hughs 239
Desiderata Max Ehrmann 242
7. MAKING A DIFFERENCE 245
What Is Success? Ralph Waldo Emerson 245
Be Cool …Stay in School! Jason Summey 246
The Leader Tony Overman 250
Courage in Action Bill Sanders 251
Turning Up Your Light Eric Allenbaugh 253
The Oyster Author Unknown 256
Courage in a Fire Barbara A. Lewis 258
The Most Mature Thing I ve Ever Seen Chris Blake 263
Broken Wing Jim Hullihan 267
Passing the Dream Penny Caldwell 270
8. GOING FOR IT! 273
The Girl Next Door Amanda Dyksyra 273
I ll Be Back Jack Cavanaugh 276
Just Me Tom Krause 284
True Height David Naster 286
Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan Helen Keller 291
The Gravediggers of Parkview Junior High Kif Anderson 295
Adulthood Robert Fulghum 299
Teenagers Bill of Rights Lia Cay et al. 303
The Boy Who Talked with Dolphins Paula McDonald 305
Wild Thing Jennifer Philbin 313
To Track Down My Dream Ashley Hodgeson 316
From Crutches to a World-Class Runner The Speaker s Sourcebook 318
If Rudyard Kipling 320
No-Hair Day Jennifer Rosenfeld and Alison Lamber 322
I Did It! Mark E. Smith 325
Growing Brooke Mueller 328
New Beginnings Paula(Bachleda)Koskey 329
Who Is Jack Canfield? 332
Who Is Mark Victor Hansen? 334
Who Is Kimberly Kirberger? 336
What People Are Saying About 338