atmospheric setting

Poetry·Sheila Northrup, age 10 — Winter arrives with drifting snowflakes, golden sunlight on snow, and the cold creeping into houses where hot chocolate warms waiting families.

Poetry·Danica Lee — Winter arrives with soft snowflakes, harsh cold, and hot chocolate as snow swallows trees and warmth battles the bitter air.

Story·Jem Burch, age 13 — A reluctant teenager dragged to a Ghanaian village for Christmas discovers friendship and joy through a local tradition of chasing chickens.

Story·Alicia Xin, age 12 — A matsutake mushroom narrates its journey from a Tibetan forest where it's harvested by a girl named Tashi, to a New York market, and finally to a new forest home...

Poetry·Laura Halliday, age 13 — Observers watch cockatoos cross water at dusk, counting them like stars as they journey from hiding places to trees beyond, ending with a rebellious teenager bird.

Story·Kate Bailey, age 11 — A girl adopts a mysterious horse from a shadowy seller at a carnival, only to discover he's a stolen Chincoteague pony who must be returned to his island home.

Story·Stella Keaveny Haapala, age 12 — After her mother's death, a girl trapped in a cramped NYC apartment with her distant father dreams of their old farm until a vision helps her begin to let go.

Story·Catherine Chung, age 12 — A young traveler boards a Beijing-to-Shenzhen train, befriends a three-year-old girl named Yang Han, sketches her portrait, and reflects on connection across the journey.

Poetry·Malin Moeller, age 11 — A meditation on how dreams warp time and memory, leaving only fragments and distortions as evidence of the night's passage.

Poetry·Malin Moeller, age 11 — A meditation on how dreams distort time and memory, leaving only fragments and the physical evidence of restless sleep as proof of the night's passage.