authentic voice

Story·Shyla DeLand, age 10 — A girl's beloved hunting dog Fern is fatally injured and crawls away to die among the sweet ferns, where a mysterious pink flower later blooms.

Story·Isabel Won, age 11 — A brother and sister have a water gun fight on a hot day while their parents are out, ending when the sister gets too cold and the brother makes her...

Story·Mary Jessica Woods, age 13 — A first-person account of racehorse Zenyatta's historic Breeder's Cup Classic victory, narrated from the horse's perspective as she comes from behind to win.

Poetry·Ash Berger, age 12 — A mountain biker becomes one with the trail, feeling every bump and curve while nature cheers them on through forest and stream.

Story·Genevieve Anderle, age 13 — A family's annual Jersey Shore tradition of catching, killing, and cooking crabs becomes a multigenerational ritual of teasing, swimming, and feasting on homemade Italian gravy.

Story·Amanda Kneppel, age 13 — A girl reluctantly follows her friend out her bedroom window at midnight to explore a moonlit field, discovering freedom and wonder in the darkness she once feared.

Poetry·Ella Csuros, age 8 — A bilingual poem where water becomes the island where grandmother lives, with bears, ocean lullabies, and uncle's fishing boat.

Story·Eve Driver, age 13 — During a thunderstorm, a thirteen-year-old searches for his younger brother who ran away after a cruel argument, finding him at the tree where their parents met.

Story·Chappell Sargent — While packing to move, a teenager discovers stories she wrote at age nine, including one that eerily predicts her current situation of leaving her childhood room.

Poetry·John Rager, age 12 — A student on a creek field trip catalogs sky and water discoveries, from mud puppies to scraped knees, reluctant to leave when time runs out.