On a trip to the zoo with his friend Ettie, Danny draws pictures of some animals, who then lead the two on an imaginary adventure to Africa and back.

Tapir has a new notebook and pencils but, unlike his friends, can think of nothing to write and is ready to give up when he finds a better way to communicate--through drawing.

While Milo and his sister travel to a detention center to visit their incarcerated mother, he observes strangers on the subway and draws what he imagines their lives to be.

Amelia Bedelia suggests that her Mom, who is feeling blue, go on a play date while Amelia Bedelia is doing the same, and then enlists her friends to help make chalk drawings on the house, sidewalk, and more to brighten Mom's day with her favorite things.

The narrator turns a "nothing shape" into a cat, beaver, bunny, dog, turtle, and bear, but what the cat really wants is a horse.

When Miss Greer asks each child in the class to write a story, second-grader Aaron, who loves to draw but struggles with reading, creates a story using pictures.