Stories

Story·Alison Buick, age 13 — A young ballet dancer auditions for Odette in Swan Lake, loses to her rival Michelle, but gets to perform when Michelle injures her ankle during opening night.

Story·Adrienne Hohensee, age 10 — Two competitive students challenge each other at chin-ups in a rain-soaked park, pushing past their limits to discover something beyond winning.

Story·Emmy J. X. Wong, age 12 — A twelve-year-old girl struggles with her widowed father's engagement to Jessica, fearing the loss of their special bond, until the wedding ceremony reveals she's being invited into a new family,...

Story·Cole Miller, age 11 — A young cellist faces performance anxiety before a school concert, finding that the music transforms his fear into something better than summer itself.

Story·Emmy J. X. Wong, age 12 — A seventh-grader with a lifelong crush on her neighbor plans to reveal her feelings at the Valentine's dance, but gets the flu and misses it—until a midnight mailbox exchange changes...

Story·Katya B. Schwenk, age 11 — A girl finds an abandoned black lab in the woods with a note asking someone to care for him, then encounters him a year later, happy with a new family.

Story·Dylan J. Sauder, age 13 — A boy hiding in an abandoned Paris theatre discovers ghostly musicians are his mother's orchestra, leading him to his grandfather, the famous conductor Alexandre Mierceles.

Story·Mary Woods, age 11 — A sparrow clan leader, haunted by his mate's death, flees when his son faces the same predator—but the son survives to lead the clan home while the father finds healing...

Story·Emma T. Capps, age 12 — A girl hides in her favorite tree before a dreaded doctor's visit, finding solace in the branches and sharing a poem that no one else appreciated.

Story·Daniel KulahliOglu, age 12 — A fourth-grader arrives at school excited to perform in a play, only to learn his beloved science teacher has died. He finds solace feeding the classroom lizards one last time.