original perspective

Poetry·Sylvia Gibson, age 13 — A teenager contemplating suicide finds reasons to live in small miracles like birds taking flight and children's first steps, offering her words as a gift.

Story·Nina Oliva, age 12 — When villagers capture wolf pups for companionship, a girl who frees one is granted the power to speak to wolves and must negotiate peace between the species.

Poetry·Kyle Lotke, age 10 — A child races to watch the sunset, imagining where the sun goes, then becomes the sun sinking into bed while darkness transforms into regenerative sleep.

Poetry·Wujun Ke, age 13 — Dawn breaks through trees as birds find their perches, while the speaker breathes in the ancient scents of maple and oak between dreams and waking.

Story·Margaret Bryan, age 11 — On a winter drive to Prince Edward Island, thirteen-year-old Elsabeth discovers her lifelong devotion to the color blue while her family shares pomegranates and plays road games.

Poetry·Katie Ferman, age 13 — A girl catches fireflies on a spring night, trying to contain their light in her hands before releasing them back to the darkness.

Story·Anna Currey, age 12 — Stranded on an island for five days after wrecking her yacht, Mae survives on crabs and snails while watching distant Fourth of July fireworks spark an unexpected epiphany about life's...

Poetry·Olivia AscioneD'Elia, age 13 — A century-old house becomes a living archive of memories, its rooms layered with photos and stars, transforming from pink dusk to dark ink as night falls.

Poetry·Benjamin Firsick, age 11 — A boy raking leaves watches migrating birds, imagining one small bird who flies the opposite way eventually saves the flock from hawks in Costa Rica.

Poetry·Gabriel Wainio-Theberge, age 12 — Late geese flying south become a mourning choir whose honks lament autumn's end and winter's arrival, their voices mistaken for hunting hounds.