freedom

Poetry·Annie Rudisill, age 11 — A swimmer embraces the ocean's depths, feeling the sandy bottom and salty breeze, drawn repeatedly back into the water's welcoming coolness.

Story·Sage Behr, age 12 — An elderly woman in the 1850s recalls how witnessing a slave auction led her to become a conductor on the Underground Railroad, risking everything to help families escape.

Story·Samantha Lai, age 10 — A slave girl named Min-Li discovers she is a Guardian of the Phoenix when a magical bird rescues her and reveals her destiny to heal villages.

Story·Katharine Pong, age 12 — A girl runs eleven miles to the beach without planning, where observing oysters making pearls from irritating sand grains helps her reframe her frustrations with home life.

Story·Bonnie Leigh Cruser, age 13 — A thirteen-year-old girl wakes before dawn to ride her pony bareback through woods and fields, finding renewal in their secret morning gallop.

Story·Talitha Farschman, age 12 — A noble lady disguises herself as a foreign prince and wins three contests to free her husband from the king's dungeon after he boasted of her beauty.

Story·William Gwaltney, age 13 — In 1947 Roswell, a rancher finds mysterious metal debris and strange beings in his pasture, leading to government intervention and lifelong consequences for those who touched the fragments.

Poetry·Jacob Dysart, age 13 — A skateboarder captures the split-second of flight when jumping a curb, where worldly problems disappear before the wheels touch down again.

Story·Hugh Cole, age 11 — A boy who can speak to animals flees with his wolf-dog when a monster called an Alarcon hunts him for his powers, ultimately escaping when a condor saves them from...

Story·Erik Dinardo — In the antebellum South, an enslaved girl named Hope learns her mother will be sold, prompting escape plans, while the master's daughter Abigail faces a moral choice.