family

Poetry·Pearl Tulay, age 12 — Sisters collect shells and sea glass at the beach, but discover the treasures lose their magic when brought home, separated from ocean and memory.

Story·Ellie Woody, age 13 — An adopted Korean girl visits her birth village on Easter, confronting the life she might have lived before choosing the family who raised her.

Story·Ennya Papastoitsis, age 11 — A family's ritual of baking chocolate-chip cookies becomes a meditation on memory, tradition, and the passage from childhood tea parties to present-day conversations.

Story·Molly O'Toole, age 12 — A girl finally gets her turn to be Lucia in her Swedish family's St. Lucia Day celebration, but forgets the words to the traditional song at the crucial moment.

Story·Albert Shu, age 10 — In 1960 China during the Great Leap Forward famine, a hungry boy eats his entire lunch bread on the way to school, remembering his family's lost wealth.

Story·Alex Perry, age 9 — A young skier investigating dark puddles in cracked ice falls through and fights to survive, his life flashing before him as he struggles toward the surface.

Story·Abigail Johnson, age 12 — After losing their mother in a car accident that leaves five-year-old Marcella unconscious, siblings Ellie and Luke wait anxiously in the hospital until Ellie's handmade poster helps welcome Marcella back...

Poetry·Jordan Guberman, age 12 — A child and grandmother bake bread together in an old kitchen, sharing laughter, sneaking batter, and talking about life while waiting for the loaf to rise.

Story·Ermeen Choudhury, age 12 — Five years after her twin sister Grace falls to her death from their treehouse, twelve-year-old Chloë returns to find Grace's spirit waiting to play pirates one last time.

Poetry·Andrew Eisenbrown, age 12 — A child searches the airport for their father returning from Iraq, recognizing him finally by his smile and open arms.