Fiction
For Mom, and all the “Emmas” out there. “Healing does not mean going back to the way things were before.” –Ram Dass m? Wanna go bike riding with me today?” “Can’t,” I mumbled and grabbed my backpack. “Emma?” Jennifer asked, “Are you OK?” But I was already out the door and sprinting down the [...]
Fiction
The recess bell pierced through the hallways like a needle puncturing a piece of soft velvet. Students threw back their chairs and stampeded towards the classroom door. I grabbed my leather jacket and stepped into the unfamiliar corridors. Alone, I walked down the deserted hall. It all started when my dad got fired from his [...]
Fiction
Sprinting across the asphalt road, on her way to school, all Drew had on her mind was how the prank was going to unfold. Over the years, she had perfected her talent for imitating other people’s voices. Hmmm, how can I make sure she’s out of her office? Drew thought as she rounded the corner. [...]
Fiction
The Annual Holiday Summer Street Showdown
Holiday decorations on Summer Street always got a little out of hand. If a two-hundred-foot inflatable Santa was put up one day, you better believe that there would be a three-hundred-foot menorah the next day. Smoke machines were brought out, mechanical masterpieces were set up (Mr. Johanson had moving reindeer that made actual noises and [...]
Fiction
Robin Carter was a lonely child. He had no friends, and he couldn’t remember a time when things were different. He was twelve, in the seventh grade. He was only open when he was reading and had such great passion for it that it was the most dominating factor in his life. He had loved [...]
Fiction
Katy’s father’s hand kept waving goodbye, until his car turned the corner and she could not see it anymore. Katy Bay lived in a small village in England with her father, Mr. Richard Bay. Katy’s mother died when she was very young, and so her father had to raise Katy all by himself. Katy would [...]
Fiction
Exhausted from another long day of school, Kaeli flopped down onto her bed. Her eyes wandered around her room and landed on the little box on her dresser. Walking over, she picked it up. It was a beautiful box, painted with delicate butterflies and edged with gold. The butterfly box. Her grandfather had given it [...]
Poems
They are hidden in a place like a key lost in the dark A plane’s vapor line disappears from the sky An insect flies away from view like a worm crawls beneath the earth A flower you cannot see has withered back in its own pod The lines drawn by our skates vanish from view [...]
Poems
The oak trees all around us Hide the light of the moon, Only emitting a faint Spectral glow. Rustlings and stirring, Usual at nighttime like this Are gone. The air is silent tonight, The tingle of magic in the air, And it seems all of the forest Is holding its breath, Marveling at the beauty [...]
Poems
Have you ever climbed a butte in the fog with the sun’s rays slanting visibly through the trees? Have you reached the top, leaving fog and tree behind and seen a sea of white clouds stretching away in all directions? The treetops of other high places poke up through the mist and you dream of [...]
Book Reviews
Counting Thyme, by Melanie Conklin; G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers: New York, 2016; $16.99 When I’m picking out books to read, I usually try to avoid the sad ones. Counting Thyme is definitely ranked amongst the saddest books I’ve ever read, and yet it lies with my favorites. How? Maybe it’s because the [...]
Book Reviews
Roller Girl, by Victoria Jamieson; Dial Books for Young Readers: New York, 2015; $20.99 Tougher. Stronger. Fearless. These are the words the protagonist of Roller Girl is driven by as she fights to achieve her goals in this amusing and inspiring graphic novel of friendship and growing up. A relatable character for almost anyone who’s [...]
