Cinnamon was a princess, a long time ago, in a small hot country, where everything was very old. Cinnamon did not talk. Mango trees, a parrot, and a beautiful room in the palace do nothing to help the teachers who try to make her to speak. Can a man-eating tiger do so, and exactly who will end up in the belly of the beast?

Although mute, Delia quickly becomes part of the "family" at a most unusual orphanage, where classes include Fairy Tale Studies, a field trip may result in a monster sighting, and classmates include a hedgehog and a boy whose head is an onion.

Taken in by a poor family in a rural village after the death of her father, Sunflower bonds with the family's only child, Bronze, who has not spoken since being traumatized by a terrible fire.

"Luke isn't like most other 11-year-olds -- he can't speak and he mostly lives in his head. But today he'll go far out of his comfort zone when his parents take him on a train to see a parade. Luke must face all of his greatest fears: masks, dogs, and the unknown. When he's separated from his parents at the parade, Luke goes where he's the best version of himself--his imagination. Transforming into superhero ThunderBoom, Luke is determined to stomp...

The other orphans say Margot is lucky. Lucky to survive the horrible accident that killed her family. Lucky to have her own room because she wakes up screaming every night. And finally, lucky to be chosen by a prestigious family to live at their remote country estate. But it wasn't luck that made the Suttons rescue Margot from her bleak existence at the group home. Margot was handpicked to be a companion to their silent, mysterious daughter, Agatha....

Angry that her father has left, twelve-year-old Alice swears that she will live in her family's old Renaissance tent until he agrees to return; but after she meets her mute four-year-old neighbor Piper she finds herself becoming involved in the child's life--and when she hears the little girl speak a word for the first time in years she sets out to prove to Piper's parents that the dismal diagnosis they received for their daughter may be all wrong....

A mute boy, taught to pantomime by a retired actor, is persecuted by villagers because he seems to have a secret.

In Tanzania, Bernardi's mute grandfather makes him a wonderful music box and then helps him realize his dream of owning a soccer ball and going to school.

"Seventeen-year-old Santos Ramos is a curandero--Latinx shaman--living in a desolate West Texas. When a mute boy crosses the border through a sinister smuggler, Santos finds himself fascinated by the voiceless teen. Santos craves a more traditional high school life of parties, studying for the SATs, and writing for the school blog, but he was born with el don--the gift. People come to him for spiritual healing. Like his past Aztec roots, though, asking...