creativity

Story·Emi Cohen, age 10 — A young writer struggles with creative block, trying every genre and filling candy wrappers with unfinished stories, until she discovers the solution is to write about her own experience.

Story·Catherine Pugh, age 12 — A girl loses her handwritten novel when it blows off a San Francisco cable car and disappears down a storm drain marked 'Flows to Bay.'

Story·Genna Carroll, age 13 — While packing to move, a teenager discovers a story she wrote at age nine that eerily predicts her current situation of leaving her childhood room.

Story·Chappell Sargent — While packing to move, a teenager discovers stories she wrote at age nine, including one that eerily predicts her current situation of leaving her childhood room.

Poetry·Leah Berger, age 12 — A young musician describes the physical and emotional experience of playing a brass instrument, from cold valves to the music flowing through her body.

Poetry·Danielle Eagle, age 12 — A young writer celebrates the power of imagination through metaphors of flight, electricity, and natural forces, declaring herself a dreamer whose pen brings visions to life.

Story·Melissa Birchfield, age 13 — A girl obsessed with reading 200 books to become a novelist discovers through her younger cousin that living life provides better inspiration than hiding in stories.

Poetry·Elliott McCloskey, age 13 — A young musician struggles with a trombone, from its mysterious case through spit-clogged frustration to the moment when instrument and player finally connect.

Story·Henry Allan, age 11 — A young magician overcomes performance anxiety when his uncle appreciates his card trick despite a mistake, teaching him that perfection isn't necessary for connection.

Story·Hannah Fern Pollard, age 13 — A boy finds his rival's lost championship kite before a competition and must decide whether to return it or keep it to ensure his own victory.