strong imagery

Story·Lia Taylor, age 12 — A prince sent to find a bride falls for her brother instead, leading them to flee their kingdoms and establish a new land where love can flourish freely.

Poetry·Anya Geist, age 12 — A nocturnal tour through a small town captures the quiet life of buildings, objects, and creatures after dark, from creaking floorboards to a bobbing pond raft.

Story·Blanche Li, age 9 — A girl overcomes her fear of nightmares about people with disabilities when she befriends Kylie, a talented cellist with bionic arms, at music lessons.

Story·Aditya Singh, age 12 — Five vignettes explore identity through hands, chess defeat, a berry tree, a letter to younger self, and meditation on the narrator's name.

Story·Christine Chang, age 10 — A girl realizes she's been bossing around her best friend, tries to apologize at recess but makes things worse, then helps reunite Alice with her lost dog.

Poetry·Vidhat Kartik, age 9 — A young poet cycles through the seasons with rhyming couplets, capturing each season's distinctive markers from falling leaves to fireworks to hibernating bears.

Poetry·Mae Gesser, age 9 — A quiet poem captures night through four precise images: stars as sequins, moon on water, grass swaying like a rocking horse, silence like an empty page.

Story·Clare McDermott, age 12 — A forest walk becomes a moment of wonder when a hummingbird appears, transforming the atmosphere with its iridescent presence before vanishing.

Story·Eva Juette, age 11 — In Nazi-occupied Denmark, two girls hide their Jewish friend and her mother in a closet during a terrifying search, transforming a childhood game into survival.

Story·Mira Johnson, age 8 — A sycamore tree named Triffle shelters a wounded bunny from a hunting dog, using her special soap to heal the bunny's injury.