dreams

Story·Rachel Hellwig, age 13 — An aspiring ballerina practices relentlessly for a Nutcracker audition but isn't chosen, only to be called in as an understudy when another dancer falls ill.

Story·Emily Blackmer, age 12 — A thirteen-year-old writer rises before dawn on the summer solstice to watch the sunrise alone, finding validation for her literary dreams in nature's voice.

Story·Emily Blackmer, age 12 — A thirteen-year-old writer rises at dawn on the summer solstice to watch the sunrise alone, finding validation for her literary dreams in nature's voice.

Story·Andrea Albertini, age 13 — A working-class girl secretly drives four hours to audition at a prestigious music school with her grandmother's cello, hoping to win a scholarship her family can't afford.

Story·Audrey Crockett, age 12 — A girl finds her perfect horse at a failing stable, but when her superstitious mother refuses, she creates an elaborate scheme involving a fake dream to change her mind.

Poetry·Nicole Guenther, age 12 — A young poet confronts mortality by imagining flight beyond Earth's gravity, transforming the fear of nothingness into an invitation to soar through unnamed universes.

Poetry·Juliet B. Quaglia, age 10 — A child climbs a metaphorical ladder to sleep, ascending through expanding views from house to world, then drifting back down into dreams.

Story·Malin Moeller — A boy in an orphanage experiences vivid dreams of a jungle that begin bleeding into reality, leading him to discover his connection to an enslaved ancestor.

Story·Adara Robbins, age 13 — A teenage athlete returns to an empty soccer field at night, confronting memories of rejection and rediscovering her love for the game through solitary practice.

Story·Charlie Patten, age 13 — Three friends meet to swim at night but Martin has a premonition dream where a sea creature attacks his friends, waking just as they arrive for real.