loss

Story·Felix Zhang, age 13 — A father's harsh parenting drives his son away, and only as the son lies dying from an attack in India do they finally exchange the words 'good night' they never...

Story·Preston Craig, age 10 — A farm family loses their home to bank foreclosure and moves to a West Virginia coal mining town, where they find hope in staying together despite the difficult changes.

Story·Sophia Veltfort, age 13 — Three friends walk a private beach as tensions rise over Ally's choice between divorced parents—staying in California with her mother or moving to New York with her father and brother.

Poetry·Mushka Bogomilsky, age 10 — A grandfather shares his Holocaust survival story with his grandchild, from separation to liberation, ending with both in tears.

Story·Lauren Tompkins, age 13 — An orphaned girl joins her estranged sea captain father's ship, where she exposes the first mate's theft and helps navigate through a storm to earn her place.

Story·Emily deLisle, age 10 — An Egyptian servant girl who is secretly the goddess Isis helps a hippo mother killed by hunters become the goddess Tawret, reuniting her with her family in the afterlife.

Story·Elizabeth Halcomb, age 12 — A twelve-year-old girl resents her parents' decision to adopt a Romanian orphan until the younger girl offers her dead sister's ring, asking if Kate can take her place.

Story·Veronica Engler, age 13 — A dragon awaits knights coming to slay her, remembering her murdered family. When she recognizes her brother's killer, she chooses mercy over revenge before dying.

Story·Ben Mast, age 12 — A peasant girl follows a mysterious blue dragon into its burrow and discovers it's actually an evil magician who killed her family and seeks to end her bloodline.

Story·Gus Ruchman, age 12 — After a tsunami kills his family, an eleven-year-old Muslim boy survives with a Hindu man who teaches him that faith transcends religious boundaries before dying in his arms.