Fiction
JULY 7, 1947 It was early morning when Barry Whitestone rode out to check on his cattle. He noticed right away that something was wrong. The herd was spooked. They moved restlessly about, bunching together, shivering and bellowing, their eyes rolling in panic. Sweat colored their flanks. As Barry rode slowly through the herd, he [...]
Fiction
Cammie pushed aside her sunshine-yellow curtains to stare out the window. Ghosts, princesses, and superheroes were just starting to file onto Lemon Lane. She turned from the window to look at her reflection in the full-length mirror. Cammie’s curls bounced up and down gleefully in rhythm with her sparkling plastic antennae. A frilly ballerina leotard [...]
Fiction
I lived a beautiful life free of worry or sorrow until the age of fourteen, when both my mother and father died. Then, I had nowhere to go except my Aunt Helga’s. Her name explains her perfectly. Aunty was strict and old-fashioned. She was an old maid and her rigid lifestyle made me a prisoner [...]
Fiction
“Hey new girl,” a boy’s voice boomed large out of nowhere. “Are you Asian? Are you from China?” Emily’s face felt scorched. She knew it was turning the deepest shade of sunburn right now because she was dying of embarrassment. She slid further down in her seat, halfway under her desk. In her first week [...]
Fiction
Amy ran. She ran and ran and ran and ran because she never wanted to stop. She flew past churches and office buildings, the sound of her Nikes crushing the gravel guiding her. Her muscles didn’t hurt; her skin was simply a garment she could peel off when she got hot. Amy wanted to get [...]
Fiction
The place was deserted, an abandoned ruin of what used to be. A victim of the slow ravages of time. Ever so slowly fading away, into nothingness… At least that’s what it seemed, until our aunt had to abruptly ruin it by adding, “It may look deserted, but that’s just because people don’t come on [...]
Fiction
I was startled. I really didn’t know what to think. I was so sure that I would get the job. The idea of not getting it had never even crossed my mind. I could hear the baby crying outside and Molly was singing to it. Hush my dear, The galloping men ride through the bracken, [...]
Fiction
Click, clack, sounded the dancer’s feet, echoing out in the auditorium. The smooth piano accompanied her and the audience and judges looked very pleased with the performance. I took a deep breath behind the thick velvet curtain. I was up next. My heart thudded louder than marching drums. I had spent months and months practicing [...]
Poems
Thirteen Ways to Look at Autumn
The smell of gingersnaps, apple cider, and pumpkin pie wafting through the air in delicate swirls arm-in-arm with the colorful wind. The shy sun poking through the wooden arms of a lamenting willow. Golden drops of warm sunshine strewn across the yards of piled leaves and blades of thin grass. Quietly, almost silently, the bitter [...]
Poems
When I was five, I got out of school. It was the first day and I had already made friends. But none of us knew what was happening. I heard a lot of talk about crash mess fall tall. Why was everyone talking about mess fall hit hurt and tears. Fear. My mom took me [...]
Poems
The wind is in my hair as I kick with my foot The rhythm of my wheels on the cracks of the sidewalk Thu-thump, thu-thump, thu-thump The curb is coming to meet me at the end of the block It draws closer and closer Its short drop seeming like a cliff I lean back slightly, [...]
Book Reviews
Larklight, by Philip Reeve; Bloomsbury Children’s Books: New York, 2006; $16.95 Eleven-year-old Arthur Mumby, his sister Myrtle, and his dad live on an old spaceship called Larklight—until it is attacked by giant spiders. Larklight is an excellent book because you are never bored. Arthur and Myrtle encounter a new adventure at every turn, like being [...]
Book Reviews
I Am Rembrandt’s Daughter, by Lynn Cullen; Bloomsbury Children’s Books: New York, 2007; $16.95 How many of you know who Shakespeare or Beethoven were? Many of you, probably, but how many of you know who Rembrandt was? I know who Shakespeare and Beethoven were, but I had no idea who Rembrandt was until I read [...]
