animals

Story·Sophia Chang, age 13 — A girl with amber eyes discovers she's a daughter of Bastet, joining a pack of feline women who hunt together under the stars.

Story·Jenna Fields, age 12 — An owl hunts through moonlit woods to feed her soon-to-hatch eggs, fights off a raccoon predator, and returns to witness her chicks emerging into the world.

Poetry·Vincenzo Ruggiero, age 13 — A boy describes his after-school routine with his dog Bella, from her greeting at the window to playing fetch, bath time, and bedtime.

Poetry·Theo Taplitz, age 10 — A boat journey brings memories of a grandfather as dolphins appear, blending present observation with past experiences on the water.

Story·Kyle Trefny, age 11 — A boy joins his marine biologist father on a rescue mission to free a bottlenose dolphin trapped in fishing nets fourteen miles off the California coast.

Story·Kaley Birchfield, age 11 — A volunteer at a goat farm becomes attached to a sickly newborn goat she names Barney, nurses him to health, then must find him a loving home when he's sold.

Story·Eoin O'Mara, age 11 — A boy secretly befriends a field mouse his family considers a pest, then faces a moral crisis when his grandmother orders him to shoot it with his bow and arrow.

Poetry·Aiwen L. Desai, age 12 — A wolf's howl, an elephant's wail, a polar bear's lament become nature's collective plea for humans to stop destroying and start creating a world where all creatures can thrive.

Story·Emma Caroline Duncan, age 11 — A mute girl in southern Africa discovers the feared Jago bird that terrorizes her village is protecting its silent chicks, finding her own voice through their connection.

Poetry·Tess Nealon Raskin, age 9 — A child dives into a warm pond where rainbow trout circle and bite toes, experiencing the underwater world as a distant, heavenly place.