death

Story·Max Strebel, age 12 — A girl befriends bear cubs, discovers her taxidermist father killed their mother, and years later must choose between saving him from a bear attack or protecting the animal.

Story·Marie Agnello, age 12 — A twelve-year-old discovers seventy-five letters from 1919-1923 between her great-grandmother and a French pen pal, Cécile, who died at age twenty.

Story·Lucy Lumsdaine, age 13 — After her mother's death, a girl obsessively fills her life with activities until a poetry assignment about sadness breaks through her denial.

Poetry·Brendan Grant, age 11 — A poem defines 'alone' through images of isolation: a homeless man at a grocery store, refugees fleeing, a mother who has lost her children, a turban among baseball caps.

Story·Megan Gannett, age 13 — A twelve-year-old girl struggles with her parents' prolonged grief over her baby brother's death until her fiddle performance helps them all find healing.

Story·Ryan Kinnavy, age 11 — A young baseball pitcher finds a mysterious sphere that allows him to travel back in time and prevent a fatal car accident that would have killed his best friend.

Story·Melissa Merte, age 10 — A girl allergic to fur finds companionship in a praying mantis named Forget Me Not, who becomes a beloved pet before laying eggs and dying in the family's arms.

Story·Ashley Steever, age 13 — A circus clown loses his beloved leopard partner in a tragic accident, returns home to save his family's farm, marries his childhood sweetheart, then loses their daughter in another animal...

Story·Asif Rahman, age 11 — A young pilot on the USS Yorktown experiences his first combat mission bombing Japanese carriers, losing his best friend and his romantic notions about war.

Story·Nina Prader, age 13 — Two sisters leave their island home after a baby's drowning, sent to live with their aunt on the mainland while their mother recovers from grief.