authentic voice

Story·Rachel Weary, age 10 — A girl regrets not defending her Korean classmate Marion when a popular boy makes a racist comment, learning a painful lesson about moral courage and complicity.

Story·Jessica Ro, age 11 — A girl who resents her difficult grandfather discovers her love for him only when he's hospitalized with a heart attack and gives her a locket containing a photo of them...

Story·Emma Kilgore Hine, age 12 — When knights leave for battle, a noble girl who dreams of heroism must defend her castle from enemy attack, proving herself as the warrior she longs to be.

Story·Hannah Postel, age 12 — An actor playing Romeo navigates pre-show tension with her Juliet, finding reconciliation and deeper understanding of her character through performance.

Story·Caitlin Peterson, age 13 — Two sisters create a secret midnight world for their stuffed animals in the woods, rebuild it after destruction, and return twenty years later with their own daughters.

Story·Molly Ostertag and Evan Mistur, age 12 — A girl at summer camp bonds with a barn kitten named Oreo, plans to adopt him, but he runs away before she can return from vacation.

Story·Preston Craig, age 10 — A girl who believes she's bad at everything discovers kayaking, overcomes her fear after tipping over, and places second in a race.

Poetry·Natalie Fine, age 12 — A night in a vibrant city comes alive through sensory details — dancing on cobblestones, lights on water, sleeping on doorsteps under a diamond-filled sky.

Story·Marlee Rosenthal, age 12 — A girl's memory of discovering chicken pot pie with her aunt transforms an ordinary Thursday dinner at Ponzio's into a sensory celebration of family tradition.

Story·Olivia Grugan, age 13 — A teenage girl recounts the day her family's beloved pond became the site of tragedy when a six-year-old Amish boy drowned during a gathering.