birds

Poetry·Aiah Morris, age 12 — A crow flies free from troubles, basking in sun, her firm voice neither screaming nor complacent, taking only what's unwanted like vultures do.

Poetry·Zeke Braman, age 9 — A young poet climbs a mountain path, sensing ancestral footsteps and wanting to merge with the landscape's accumulated stories and secrets.

Story·Sascha Farmer, age 12 — After moving from a small Canadian coastal town to Houston, Gale struggles with homesickness, remembering her life among pine forests, gray jays, and ocean fishing.

Story·Alexa Rivera Rockwood, age 12 — A monarch butterfly loses half her wing crossing a polluted city on her migration to Mexico, but continues on foot, determined to be the first to complete the journey.

Story·Sierra Glassman, age 13 — A young crane faces exhaustion, cold, and an eagle attack during his first migration over the Himalayas, finally reaching safety in a warm field.

Story·Andrew Wu, age 11 — A philosophical narrative following four reincarnated beings—seed, insect, fish, and bear—each discovering Nature's cyclical patterns of creation, destruction, and renewal through their brief lives.

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·Adam Smith, age 10 — A boy describes an idyllic natural scene with waterfall, river, and wildlife, finding pure happiness in nature's beauty before returning home to dream of it.

Story·Natalie McGee, age 13 — An emperor seeking to build a palace in a birch forest must solve a riddle from the mysterious Dea, leading to his transformation from tyrant to protector of the animals.

Story·Bailey Curtin, age 11 — A girl walks a PEI beach at dawn carrying her sister's stolen ashes, confronting grief until a mysterious dove appears and draws their family's secret symbol in the sand.