UK KS2

Story·Joshua Mandell, age 10 — Three boys run away to sea after Tom fights with his parents, survive a shipwreck on separate islands, and reunite through ingenuity and courage before being rescued.

Story·Amy Xu, age 11 — An eleven-year-old recounts getting lost in a NYC subway station at age four, then discovers her grandmother remembers the incident differently, questioning memory itself.

Poetry·Colin Johnson, age 11 — A golden trout waits beneath tourmaline water for flies to land, then strikes with predatory precision before settling into warm mud to sleep.

Story·Canyon Woodward, age 12 — An American family in Peru misjudges a tourist with many suitcases, later discovering she brings clothes for local children and supports Quechua weavers through fair trade.

Story·Emily deLisle, age 10 — An Egyptian servant girl who is secretly the goddess Isis helps a hippo mother killed by hunters become the goddess Tawret, reuniting her with her family in the afterlife.

Poetry·Alyssum Quaglia, age 12 — A landlord tends his garden at dawn, moving through dewy grass to pull weeds and care for lettuce and strawberries in the quiet morning.

Story·Elizabeth Halcomb, age 12 — A twelve-year-old girl resents her parents' decision to adopt a Romanian orphan until the younger girl offers her dead sister's ring, asking if Kate can take her place.

Poetry·Katie Ferman, age 12 — While learning to peel apples with her mother, a girl's mind drifts through memories of other first times, barely noticing when she achieves the perfect peel.

Story·Ralphie Kabo, age 11 — Rabbit soldier Brumm rises through ranks to defend Fort Cuniculus against fox invaders, forging alliances with dingoes and kangaroos in an Australian bush war.

Story·Margaret Bryan, age 10 — A girl treasures a robin's feather and its song, loses the feather to her sister's art project, then rediscovers music's magic through her sister's violin playing.