IB MYP Language & Literature

Story·Justine Koo Drennan, age 12 — A Chinese mother faces an impossible choice when officials demand she give up one of her two children under the one-child law, ultimately deciding to leave China.

Story·Xian Chiang-Waren — A Manhattan girl spends a reluctant summer on a Kentucky farm, where a barefoot country girl teaches her to climb trees, ride horses, and watch sunrises.

Poetry·Tae Kathleen Keller, age 8 — An 8-year-old processes 9/11 through the contrast between her safe home life, library escapes, and the frightening images on TV, wondering about children in other countries.

Story·Megan Gannett, age 12 — A girl goes cross-country skiing with her grandfather in winter woods, gets separated from him, hears a pack of coyotes, and feels a deep connection to the forest.

Story·Andrew Fine, age 11 — A boy ventures into a hostile winter storm, finding strange comfort in the desolate streets before retreating to the warmth of home.

Story·Mara Elizabeth Lasky, age 13 — After her house burns down, Angela returns to sift through the ashes, finds her parents' charred wedding photo, and finally allows herself to grieve before reconciling with her mother.

Poetry·Brendan Grant, age 11 — A poem defines 'alone' through images of isolation: a homeless man at a grocery store, refugees fleeing, a mother who has lost her children, a turban among baseball caps.

Poetry·Mark Roberts, age 11 — A wooden treasure box carved from Australian jarrah wood tells its centuries-long journey from forest to sailing ship ballast to African railroad ties, now holding memories.

Story·Shelley Noel McFatter, age 13 — An Alaskan trapper obsessed with killing a lynx that's been raiding his traps discovers she has a kitten and chooses compassion over profit.

Story·Lia Regal, age 12 — A Brooklyn girl finds refuge in basketball as her parents' marriage dissolves, then moves to a coastal farmhouse after the divorce, starting fresh with a new team.