death

Story·Rosalie Stoner, age 11 — During the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, a young girl saves a lost child while fleeing through the chaos of Pompeii's destruction.

Poetry·Mushka Bogomilsky, age 10 — A grandfather shares his Holocaust survival story with his grandchild, from separation to liberation, ending with both in tears.

Story·Lauren Tompkins, age 13 — An orphaned girl joins her estranged sea captain father's ship, where she exposes the first mate's theft and helps navigate through a storm to earn her place.

Story·Emily deLisle, age 10 — An Egyptian servant girl who is secretly the goddess Isis helps a hippo mother killed by hunters become the goddess Tawret, reuniting her with her family in the afterlife.

Story·Veronica Engler, age 13 — A dragon awaits knights coming to slay her, remembering her murdered family. When she recognizes her brother's killer, she chooses mercy over revenge before dying.

Story·Ben Mast, age 12 — A peasant girl follows a mysterious blue dragon into its burrow and discovers it's actually an evil magician who killed her family and seeks to end her bloodline.

Story·Gus Ruchman, age 12 — After a tsunami kills his family, an eleven-year-old Muslim boy survives with a Hindu man who teaches him that faith transcends religious boundaries before dying in his arms.

Story·Sandra Detweiler, age 13 — A grieving girl meets a blind pianist after saving her from a bicycle collision, discovering friendship and music can pierce through darkness.

Story·Will Stroud — A young hunter describes his first archery kill, from the three-hour wait in a tree stand to the moment the deer falls, rendered in precise sensory detail.

Story·Benjamin Mollborn, age 12 — A Native American boy witnesses his father's murder by settlers and is captured, then helped to escape by the warden's son who recognizes the injustice.