Fiction
People who believe in magic can see that magic in the trickling waters of a creek; or at least I can. I began to love going down to the creek in the woods behind our home when I was six-and-a-half. My parents usually took me, but when I turned seven, I was independent enough to [...]
Fiction
Jasper stared out the window of the van and thought. He thought that he would not like his new home. His friends and his father were at his real home, the home he wanted to be his. The home that used to be his. His mother and father got divorced six months ago and his mother [...]
Fiction
INSPIRED BY A TRUE STORY It was just one of those foggy afternoons when, suddenly, my dad’s phone rang. Of course, his phone rings a lot considering he’s a marine biologist, and people call him about sea lions, seals, and whatnot. But this call was different. It came from a local fisherman, fourteen miles off [...]
Fiction
Our memories define who we are. They are the things that tie us to meaningful places as well as to the people we have loved. Memories are a part of us. So who are we without them? Who are we with nothing but lost, scattered memories? Who is my grandma? * * * The car [...]
Fiction
It was a beautiful spring morning. My irises and daisies were beginning to bloom. The crepe myrtles had put on their finest display, and pink flowers littered my driveway. It was a perfect day in North Carolina. I stepped out of the house and got into my old truck. Slowly, I drove the few miles [...]
Fiction
I walked home with the poster for the spring musical heavy in my arms. I looked at it again, hoping that I had seen it wrong. Nope. The block letters were still dominating the page, telling me once again that I didn’t want to perform this spring. “Finding Broadway,” it said, “A Musical Without Words!” [...]
Poems
The grove of royal white birches I’ve always loved Casts intricate shadows On the pavement below. Black on black Like deer running at night. A young fern sprout Catches my eye. Something shines But nothing moves. An old plastic bag Flutters limply in the breeze From the high limb of a pine Like winter’s flag [...]
Poems
I saw a dolphin swim up to our ship, Not gray or blue but green, Just beyond the sea lions lying on the rocky beds That protect the docks from the wrath of the ocean. But today it is still, Our boat making ripples in the dark blue water, Fresh air washing my face, Waking [...]
Poems
On a perfect day long ago, in the dream-time so long that we do not remember late in the gold-brown autumn clad in hats and mittens we dashed outside to dance among auburn leaves tugging at each other’s hair and scraping fingers on rough pavement cheeks rosy we danced until the fall had filled us [...]
Book Reviews
Kizzy Ann Stamps, by Jeri Watts; Candlewick Press: New York, 2012; $15.99 Kizzy Ann Stamps is a normal girl. She has a dog named Shag. She lives on a farm with her mother, father, and brother. But there’s one catch to this whole “normal girl” business: Kizzy Ann is black. Today, that wouldn’t be a [...]
Book Reviews
The Million Dollar Putt, by Dan Gutman; Hyperion Press: New York, 2006; $15.99 If you happen to be walking along the shelves in the library and it’s a rainy afternoon and you’re looking for a short but enchanting story, then The Million Dollar Putt, by Dan Gutman, is for you. Dan Gutman has made the [...]
