UK KS3

Poetry·Sabrina Guo, age 13 — A thirteen-year-old explores memory and perception through four vignettes: coffee grounds and bird eggs, violin practice, shower wall patterns, and a childhood dream of walking on eggs.

Poetry·Sabrina Guo, age 13 — During Hurricane Sandy's blackout, a family lights their first fire, boils water for foot-soaking, and finds calm while wind rages outside their dark house.

Poetry·Naomi Angel Farkas, age 12 — A meditation on feeling trapped by others' expectations transforms into a plea for empathy and a vision of freedom through flight and song.

Story·Liam Hancock, age 11 — A teenage surfer faces the same deadly waves that killed his father at the Mavericks competition, then risks everything to save his friend from drowning.

Story·Rachael Ding, age 13 — A girl grows from child to grandmother, repeatedly passing an old woman who rakes leaves through the seasons, only recognizing her absence when it's too late.

Poetry·Bo-Violet Vig, age 13 — A girl recalls being praised as 'a little angel' throughout childhood, while her mother's poetry quotation hints at the impermanence of such perfection.

Story·Jamison Freis, age 12 — Beverly Henderson, orphaned in 1950s Idaho, befriends a raccoon named Bandit who later betrays her, causing an explosion that kills her father and leaves her in a 13-year coma.

Poetry·Sabrina Guo, age 13 — A meditation on cultural superstitions connects Greek pomegranate-smashing with Chinese number symbolism, finding meaning in how misfortune creates possibility for renewal.

Story·Seoyon Kim, age 12 — A freelance journalist travels to Syria to report on the civil war, interviewing refugees in a camp and finding wisdom in an elderly woman's perspective on conflict.

Story·Phoebe Donovan, age 11 — A boy grieving his father's death begins seeing visions of a magical war led by General X, who resembles his dad, until reality and fantasy blur dangerously.