freedom

Story·Schuyler Mitchell, age 12 — A farm girl secretly nurses an injured wild foal back to health, then releases him to freedom when discovery threatens.

Story·Amanda Kneppel, age 13 — A girl reluctantly follows her friend out her bedroom window at midnight to explore a moonlit field, discovering freedom and wonder in the darkness she once feared.

Story·Megan Petty, age 11 — A dog befriends a pregnant wolf cast out from her pack, ultimately choosing to protect her from a hunter and join the wild to prove dogs and wolves can live...

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·Emily Grant, age 13 — A girl watches wild horses from behind a rock, naming each one and calling them her 'silent friends' who don't know she exists.

Story·Naomi Vliet, age 11 — A wild mare protects her foal from mustangers, is rescued by police, and forms a bond with a girl who ultimately sets them free, only to have them return.

Story·Jenna Fields, age 12 — A bucking bronco narrates his life from birth to rodeo legend, revealing the fierce determination and isolation that define his existence as 'the fighter.'

Story·Anna Haverly, age 13 — A twelve-year-old slave named Curtis escapes via the Underground Railroad with Harriet Tubman, reaching Canada where he reunites with his father and gains the surname Freedom.

Story·Madison Henson, age 13 — A daredevil teen jumps into a forbidden lake and is transported to a medieval world where she must save a rebel fighter from a tyrant by pulling the villain back...

Story·Sophia Chang, age 13 — A girl with amber eyes discovers she's a daughter of Bastet, joining a pack of feline women who hunt together under the stars.