Maybe I'm just being overly cynical and bitter, but all of these stories just seemed overly sentimental with forced "moral messages". They felt very fake and gave me an icky feeling. I'll admit that a few of these stories successfully tugged at my heartstrings, but most of them left me feeling disinterested, with some stories presenting downright terrible moral lessons. I'm sure this is not the author's intention, but if I have to choose one word to describe my experience reading this book it would be "irritating".