family

Poetry·Julia Marcus, age 13 — During a word game, a player watches letters transform into words like FISH becoming SHIFT, finding poetry in the randomness of language emerging from tiles.

Story·Olivia Ladell, age 13 — After Earth's population flees to Mars, an eight-year-old boy is accidentally left behind. Eight years later, on his sixteenth birthday, he discovers another forgotten teenager.

Personal Narrative·Alicia Xin, age 13 — A privileged teen volunteers at a camp in rural China's Liangshan mountains, where friendships with local Yi children reveal the true meaning of gratitude.

Story·Emily Carver, age 11 — A red wolf named Ruby gets separated from her pack, is tranquilized and relocated to Yellowstone, where she finds a new pack and home after proving herself in battle.

Poetry·Leila Lakhal, age 12 — A Muslim girl defends her faith and community against stereotypes, describing her culture as a warm blanket woven from love and tradition.

Poetry·Tatiana Rebecca Shrayer, age 13 — A girl and her father venture into woods to craft a bow and arrows from oak branches, shooting them into the star-filled evening sky.

Poetry·Tatiana Rebecca Shrayer, age 13 — A granddaughter discovers her grandfather's old Russian typewriter in a shoe closet and types her name on it, connecting past and present through the dusty keys.

Poetry·Tatiana Rebecca Shrayer, age 13 — Old tennis racquets on a wall become a meditation on family members who have passed, their souls imagined playing on star-paved courts.

Poetry·Tatiana Rebecca Shrayer, age 13 — A girl visits her ancestors' graves in St. Petersburg, encountering a man who offers water to wash the stones, and wonders about the Russia she might have known.

Story·Hannah Nami Gajcowski, age 9 — A young girl with magical powers must defeat an evil rock star who has enslaved Neptune's citizens with mind-controlling lightning, aided by new friends and a talking rat.