Fiction
I can hear the crowd around me, talking amongst themselves, just waiting for the race to begin. I can hear people betting, "I'll take ten on Lightning! Twenty on Bullet!" I'm what you can consider an underdog. Lightning and Bullet, they are the true racers. I don't necessarily come in last, but I've never [...]
Fiction
Juan (pronounced Ju-an) walked into our living room where my parents were sitting at the table. My mom and dad knew right away that she would be the one. She was wearing jeans and a Barbados T-shirt. She had brown hair, brown eyes, and brown skin. My sister, Emily, was two at the time and [...]
Fiction
It was a warm, sunny, day. The wind chased the clouds playfully across the sky Mejandro rocked contentedly in his chair, but he knew something was not right. However, he was content to sit on his porch and wait for the trouble to find him. It always did in the end. The sun was just [...]
Fiction
I turned to watch the Ohio sign fade, merging with the endless road carrying me away from home. What am I doing? The thought swirled around my head, ricocheting off the few other ideas that popped up, shoving them away Restless, I picked up a book and then threw it aside. I loved to read [...]
Fiction
“Alexandra! Alexandra!" came the excited voice of my younger cousin Clara from the hallway. "You get to take Max and me shopping for Halloween costumes!" I smiled at her seven-year-old excitement as I stepped out into the crisp autumn air, filled with leaves in a hurry to get to the ground. Halloween was coming, and [...]
Fiction
When the World Becomes a Flame
Josh watched all the heads bouncing up and down as he hiked down the trail. He was on a Boy Scout hike with his small troop through the large forests in California. This would most likely be their last hike for a while because they were going to go skiing in the mountains for a [...]
Fiction
If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again
Izzy and her sister, Natalie, stepped onto the asphalt at Bergman's Running Track on Norm Street. This was Izzy's favorite time of day. Quiet. The sun was rising. Izzy began to run, slowly at first, then speeding up. By the time she reached Natalie again she was at full speed. "Time?" asked Izzy. "Two-thirty," replied [...]
Fiction
I walk out into the hot summer night and head across the lawn to the barn. Fresh dew covers the lush grass, and I lift the small red backpack that hangs by my side so that it will not get wet. Fireflies flash silently through the air, gleaming like tiny flying diamonds. The full moon [...]
Fiction
Haunted houses don't exist, right? Well, one night when I was about nine, I wasn't so sure. I was coming home from my friend's house as the sun was setting, hurrying since I was late for dinner. I was on the east side of the hill, and darkness blanketed me. The last rays of the [...]
Poems
The sea opens its arms to me Hugging me by pulling me into its deep cool waters My head goes under The waves crash overhead I hug it back I swim deep To the bottom No rush to get air My feet feel the sandy bottom I swim back up To smell the crisp fresh [...]
Poems
You drank hot water from a chipped mug. It was so boiling, that it would have scalded my tongue. But you loved it. I loved the Eggo waffles that I've never had without you; for me they are only there in your warm house, with the rain pouring behind the large window, as it often [...]
Book Reviews
Domenic’s War: A Story of the Battle of Monte Cassino
Domenic's War: A Story of the Battle of Monte Cassino, by Curtis Parkinson; Tundra Books: Toronto, 2oo6; $9.95 At the mention of war, some of the first images that come to mind are of troops firing from trenches or a plane dropping bombs. These are the experiences of soldiers; but imagine an ordinary person, a [...]
Book Reviews
Numbering All the Bones, by Ann Rinaldi; Hyperion Books for Children: New York, 2002; $15.99 Only once in a very long time is a book published that is truly a work of art. It takes a great deal of work and time to have created such an extra special piece of writing. Only once in [...]
