April 2021

Poetry·Nova Macknik-Conde, age 8 — A bilingual poem imagines a song the world needs — one that sounds like hope, teaches strength, and moves like water.

Story·Allison Sargent, age 11 — A Black girl struggles with accepting her natural hair as beautiful while navigating classmates who treat it as exotic and touchable.

Artwork·Alexa Zhang

Elk

Poetry·Cecilia Appel, age 13 — An elk wades through winter snow and calls to the sky, promising that spring will return to transform the frozen landscape.

Story·Zahra Batteh, age 10 — A spoiled rich man loses everything when his parents die, struggles to find work, and eventually creates a program to help homeless people become rideshare drivers.

Artwork·Rohan Jayakrishnan

Artwork·Aiyla Syed

Story·Ella Kate Starzyk, age 11 — A girl wakes to find everything turned yellow, discovers she's colorblind, falls into despair, then inexplicably floats into the sky before landing in her mother's arms.

Artwork·Adele Stamenov

Poetry·Ella Pierce, age 12 — A paddleboarder experiences heightened awareness of nature's details — jumping fish, water droplets, moonlight — finding beauty in imperfection and rhythm.