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Story·Heather Tompkins, age 12 — A bilingual American girl in Mexico refuses to speak English with friends for years, splitting herself in two until a Tae Kwon Do class forces her to confront her divided...

Story·Alexandra Orczyk, age 12 — Through letters to her absent mother, a French orphan girl chronicles her journey to America on an immigrant ship, through Ellis Island, and discovers an unexpected family connection.

Poetry·Celie Kreilkamp, age 12 — Rain transforms a city into a sanctuary, wrapping it in gray blankets of mist while thunder and lightning create a world apart from complications.

Poetry·Jude Stumpf, age 8 — A child connects Van Gogh's Starry Night to moments with parents—dad at the museum, mom watching them draw—finding calm in the painting above their bed.

Story·Hannah Ferreira, age 11 — A girl escapes her stifling bedroom on a summer night to lie in the grass under moonlight, until her mother gently brings her back inside.

Story·Olivia Cohen — A lonely Indian boy finds friendship and belonging when a girl from his school discovers him at his secret pond refuge in Minnesota.

Poetry·Celie Kreilkamp, age 12 — Rain transforms a small city into a sanctuary, wrapping it in gray blankets of mist while revealing simple beauties in puddles and lightning.

Story·Brooke Hemingway, age 13 — A lonely Indian boy finds friendship and belonging when a girl from his school discovers him at his secret pond refuge, and they dance together in the frozen forest.

Story·Meg Pheifer, age 11 — A Mexican-American girl's nursing school dreams seem crushed by poverty until her cantankerous neighbor unexpectedly offers to pay her college tuition.

Story·Jon Breed, age 13 — During a military coup in Sierra Leone, a fifth-grader shelters with his embassy family, finding and symbolically discarding a bullet that represents the violence surrounding them.