friendship

Poetry·Amber Zhao, age 10 — A meditation on Antarctic exploration becomes a reflection on distance between friends, memory's persistence, and how shared experiences diverge in recollection.

Story·Analise Braddock, age 8 — Four short fables explore consequences: a classroom prank gone wrong, a misdirected letter, celestial bodies in conflict, and a girl's persistent belief she can fly.

Personal Narrative·Asher Jenvey, age 10 — A boy recounts his journey through bullying and unsupportive schools in second grade to finding real friends and better teachers by fifth grade.

Story·Olivia Rhee, age 9 — A poor farm girl discovers money in an abandoned house, uses it for school, and starts a newspaper that leads to an unexpected friendship with a rival.

Story·Panagiotis Apatsidis Gunaratnam, age 9 — When Mike disappears from school, detectives follow clues through a haunted palace and time machine to rescue him from the Stone Age.

Personal Narrative·Claire Jiang, age 12 — A girl reflects on moving to a new house five years ago, making peace with everything except the mismatched fence her friend calls hideous.

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.

Personal Narrative·Kateri Escober Doran, age 12 — Two kindergarteners get locked out of their classroom during a bathroom break and must overcome their fears and rivalry to find help together.

Poetry·Tatiana Rebecca Shrayer, age 13 — A poem explores the paradox of someone who embodies contradictions — friend and enemy, peaceful yet at war, standing perpetually between opposing states.