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Contents

Rumor

Frigid wind whips through my long brown hair and bites me with cold teeth. It carries the strong smell of the sea in it, which stings my nose. Gray, salty water is churned into waves by the gale and sprinkles my chilly bare feet that are sinking into the wet sand. A seagull struggles to [...]

Writing Is Like Knitting

Writing is like knitting. When you write or knit properly and take time to learn the craft, you can enjoy hours of pleasure from doing it. However, if you don’t take the time to learn the skill carefully, the needles or pen can be your downfall, stabbing away at your heart and making you angry [...]

Secret Crushes

looked out her bedroom window and laughed, trying to look past the irregularly shaped snowman, the masterpiece her younger sister and brother had created to adorn their front yard. With only one button eye remaining, and a scarf which had been mistakenly tied around its head instead of its neck, it looked more like a [...]

Behind the Curtain

The old, worn curtain loomed over the stage. Chairs covered in faded, red velvet cushions were scattered throughout the theatre. A piano that had once been played in the most famous of performances now housed a family of mice. The theatre was falling apart, yet it still contained a certain beauty and elegance. If you [...]

Plant a Thimble

Today’s the day we’re going to the doctor, and I’m hiding in my tree. I beat my way through the little abandoned plot, the tall dry grass and thickets of clover flowers tickling my bare, dusty legs. Late summer, and the air’s thick with palpable, golden heat, the deep blue sky curving away above my [...]

Lucky Penny

I couldn’t believe it! It couldn’t be true. How could someone you love just be gone? Grandpa seemed invincible to me, and I was shocked when he died suddenly of a heart attack. Just a few short days ago I was sitting next to him in the park. I feel empty now, like a part [...]

King of the Forest

The forest was still. The birds had ceased their songs, the squirrels their chattering. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath as the woods prepared for the night. Rabbits had long since crept to their warrens, and mice were scampering to their burrows as owls shook out their wings to go hunt in the [...]

The Thinking Place

It was spring in the mountains of Washington—a time of beauty and change. The heaviness of the snow was melting away, flooding the brooks and allowing the pines to stretch their branches once again after a long winter. Leaves were budding on the trees, no longer icy and dead. The whole world, it seemed, was [...]

Silent Story

On a cold winter morning The lake breathes out steam Like a giant tea kettle. Two ducks in the middle As still as a painting. Why haven’t they gone south? A bird hangs up in the air. Let’s sit on the shore And soak in the quiet. Instead, we zoom by And join in the [...]

Monolith

Carved, crooked peaks outline themselves against a Yellowing sky, Deep crags littered with fertile eggs Cawing to the firming moon, We flap between their statuesque Shoulders, draped in heavy fog They don’t dance Their shadows do, Trembling freely outside of the rocks’ impenetrable cases, Sharing secrets with the sand, A peppered canvas, Which formed when [...]

The Beginning

I watch them Each face unknown Their eyes move back and forth I walk to my desk In the corner, alone The teacher begins I sit there Watching Each face wondering Whispering Who is she? As if I’m not there I glance up At the girl in front I see a smile appear And she [...]

Candyfloss

Candyfloss, by Jacqueline Wilson; Square Fish: New York, 2008; $6.99 What would you do if your mom moved to Australia? This is just one question Flora Barnes, also known as Floss, has to answer in Jacqueline Wilson’s excellent novel, Candyfloss. Floss is a girl in her preteens living in England. She lives with her mother, [...]

Every Soul a Star

Every Soul a Star, by Wendy Mass; Little, Brown Books for Young Readers: New York, 2008; $15.99 “…the sun will get erased from the sky, the planets will come out to greet us, the birds will stop singing, and a glowing halo of light will flutter like angels’ wings above our heads. Except, of course, [...]