November/December 2010

Story·Nina Lampert, age 12 — A girl delivering Christmas cake to her elderly neighbor discovers eight snow globes on the mantle, each holding a story from the woman's adventurous past.

Poetry·Olivia Smit, age 12 — A red fox crosses dewy ground at dawn, joined by his mate and kits who play in wet grass before vanishing, leaving only footprints as proof.

Story·Jack Taitel, age 10 — A boy transforms his backyard into an epic racetrack where he finally defeats his rival, the 'Dashing Devil,' in an imagined footrace through fall leaves and mud.

Story·Emma T. Capps, age 13 — A daughter watches her baker father struggle with a crossword clue about happiness while he tells the story of meeting her mother at a farmers' market, ending with their reconciliation.

Book Review·Margaret McMullan, Reviewed by Mara Cobb — Sources of Light, by Margaret McMullan; Houghton Mifflin Books for Children: New York, 2010; $16 Have you ever felt a little out of place in the world? Maybe you have...

Story·Emily Grant, age 11 — A girl discovers a magical black horse that transforms into a ghost, learning his true name is Leeto before he gallops away to freedom.

Story·Silva Baiton, age 13 — After her parents' death, a girl living with her grandmother discovers she can honor memories without being trapped by them when she transforms her mother's journals into a scrapbook.

Book Review·Karl Wolf-Morgenländer, Reviewed by John Delbert Floyd II — Ragtag, by Karl Wolf-Morgenländer; Clarion Books: New York, 2009; $16 There has been and still are wars between animals of different species. Have you ever heard of a war fought...

Story·Madeleine S. Gregory, age 12 — A girl follows a fox through a magical spring into another world, where she's tricked into slavery before the fox helps her escape.

Story·Catherine Pugh, age 12 — A girl loses her handwritten novel when it blows off a San Francisco cable car and disappears down a storm drain marked 'Flows to Bay.'