UK KS2

Poetry·Jonathan Hall, age 12 — During band practice, a student sneezes directly into his trombone, creating an explosive sound that stops the entire class mid-song.

Story·Anika Kwan, age 10 — A girl annoyed by her younger neighbor's clinginess realizes she's the child's role model, just as an older girl once was for her.

Story·Victoria Boyden, age 12 — A sister recounts the day Arachne challenged Athena to a weaving contest and was transformed into a spider, then encounters her again years later.

Poetry·Ella Rogers, age 10 — A salmon's perspective during its final leap upstream, narrowly escaping a grizzly bear's jaws before reaching calmer waters.

Story·Jordan Dunaway-Barlow, age 13 — During a thunderstorm, a Native American girl rescues a cardinal trapped in a flooding snake hole, names him Fire, and reluctantly releases him at dawn.

Story·Kathryn Malnight, age 11 — A girl mourns her lost dog Dixon, taken from her family, holding onto hope that he lives somewhere and remembers being loved.

Story·Jaylen Wang, age 10 — A small new kid at school finds belonging when his unlikely friend, a football player, invites him to join the game and helps him up after a hard tackle.

Poetry·Isabella Ainsworth, age 11 — An 11-year-old processes her parents' divorce through a poem that moves from suppressed tears to overwhelming grief, cataloging each source of pain.

Story·Ella Staats, age 10 — A girl sent to live with grandparents in Maine because her family has eight children finds a stray kitten on the beach and realizes she hasn't been abandoned after all.

Story·Brooke Antoine, age 13 — A girl sneaks out at night to the boardwalk, discovers a manatee tangled in a net, rescues it with her parents' help, and later travels to Florida to release it.