atmospheric setting

Story·Kaija Warner, age 13 — A boy travels back to 1908 where a mysterious girl helps him return to his own time, only to discover she died the day after they met.

Poetry·Rebecca Mitkus Wishnie, age 10 — Night at a dock becomes a symphony of metallic clangs, wave sounds, and boat thuds, while stars spark like kindling in the black sky.

Story·Katharine Keller, age 13 — A city girl sent to her grandparents' desert homestead for summer discovers unexpected beauty in the harsh landscape and finds her artistic calling.

Story·Olivia Calamia, age 12 — A 12-year-old encounters hundreds of college students dressed as Santa flooding the NYC subway during an annual flash mob tradition, much to her embarrassment and her family's delight.

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·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.'

Poetry·Zoe Phillips, age 11 — A child walks through absolute darkness and snow until spotting a cottage light that transforms the cold journey into a homecoming.

Story·Noa Wang, age 11 — A girl gets lost in the forest at dusk and follows a mysterious great horned owl through the darkness back to her parents' campsite.

Story·Elise Allen, age 12 — Two friends share their last summer night together, walking under stars and seeing a shooting star before saying goodbye until next year.

Story·Virginia Mason, age 12 — Three friends seeking relief from drought discover a mysterious river where a glowing woman lures one of them away, then wake to find rain has finally come.