Stone Soup Magazine

Story·Caelen McQuilkin, age 13 — A soccer star learns the meaning of ohana when her artistic best friend joins the team and struggles, forcing her to choose between winning and friendship.

Story·Jem Burch, age 12 — A Vietnamese refugee girl struggles with isolation at her new American school until a classmate teaches her English in the library, word by word, leading to friendship.

Z

Story·Ayla Schultz, age 12 — A lonely rich girl befriends a mysterious park dweller named Z, discovering a hidden community that gathers at night, but Z vanishes with spring's arrival.

Story·Pauline McAndrew — An Indian college student encounters racism while grocery shopping, triggering memories of her parents who returned to India to afford her education.

Poetry·Anne Brandes, age 12 — A girl journeys through fields and past a mill to a windowsill where, with pencil and paper, she begins to write as if the page were a ballroom.

Poetry·Katie Thomas, age 12 — A prose poem captures the joyful chaos of puppies at play, describing them as a single creature of fur, tongues, and wagging tails.

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·Rickza Kerr, age 11 — A Haitian-American adoptee imagines helping the world through kindness, reuniting families, and bridging the gap between her birth country and adoptive home.

Story·Alexandra Plombon, age 12 — An African boy witnesses his mother's sacrifice when colonial soldiers raid their village, discovering that true bravery sometimes means choosing not to fight.

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.