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Story·Emily Schneider, age 13 — A girl in California gazes into a snow globe's winter scene, imagining the Christmas town inside before returning to the blazing heat outside.

Story·Adam Jacobs, age 13 — A boy learns his father must move to California for work, runs away in anger and confusion, then returns home ready to face the separation.

Story·Emmy J. X. Wong, age 12 — A twelve-year-old girl struggles with her widowed father's engagement to Jessica, fearing the loss of their special bond, until the wedding ceremony reveals she's being invited into a new family,...

Story·Mary Woods, age 11 — A sparrow clan leader, haunted by his mate's death, flees when his son faces the same predator—but the son survives to lead the clan home while the father finds healing...

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.

Story·Emma Watson, age 13 — A girl covets a gold necklace at a shop but finds greater beauty in a silver flower from her backyard that transforms her reflection into something magical.

Story·Hugh Cole, age 12 — A girl in coastal Maine discovers a ferret she names Rumor at an abandoned lighthouse and saves it from a hawk, forming a brief connection before it disappears.

Story·Brittany Jullie, age 11 — An aspiring writer struggling with bills and rejection letters finally receives her first acceptance, learning the value of patience her grandmother taught her.

Poetry·Imani Apostol, age 11 — A girl discovers through blocked-out papers with one word visible—PREGNANT—that she'll become a big sister, processing excitement and new responsibility.

Poetry·Eliza Putnam, age 13 — A reader abandons her book to follow the calls of wood frogs and peepers through her window onto the porch roof, where their chorus declares 'We are alive.'