fear

Story·Lulu Russell, age 11 — A sparrow flees a hunting hawk through forest branches in a desperate chase, then the perspective shifts to reveal the hawk's necessity of feeding its young.

Story·Erin Wiens St. John, age 13 — A young scientist explores a forbidden island where explorers have vanished for centuries, discovering an underground sanctuary where animals and a mysterious woman shelter from nightly supernatural storms.

Story·Catherine Pugh, age 13 — After a botched surgery leaves her unable to walk, a former track star undergoes a second operation and fights through recovery to run again.

Story·Arjun Pillai Hausner, age 12 — A kind cow helps a rhino and a bird in the forest, and when a tiger threatens her, they return the favor by rescuing her together.

Story·Joyce Chen, age 13 — A fourth-grader dreads wearing her new glasses to school but discovers both clear vision and unexpected acceptance from classmates when forced to put them on.

Poetry·Leila Yaghmaei, age 12 — A first-person retelling of the Icarus myth captures the exhilaration of flight and terror of falling through breathless, punctuation-sparse prose that mirrors the experience.

Story·Ethan Levin, age 13 — Two astronauts on a routine mission are redirected to stop a massive meteorite heading for Earth, but fail, crash-landing on the devastated planet to become humanity's new beginning.

Story·Ella Jane Lombard, age 13 — In 1976 apartheid South Africa, a boy secretly joins student uprisings until police arrest his mother, forcing him to send his siblings to safety and flee to join guerrilla fighters.

Poetry·Zinnia Schwartz, age 10 — A sudden storm transforms a sunny afternoon in the park, sending a child running and slipping on raindrops as darkness overtakes the day.

Story·Jenna Lasby, age 13 — A girl with a walking stick from an old injury rescues her brother from the same river where she was hurt, finding courage through a butterfly's example.