nature

Story·Megan M. Gannett, age 13 — A shy, homeschooled boy moves to a new home and clashes with local children over a magnificent maple tree, eventually finding friendship through shared love of nature and horses.

Story·Delia Rainey, age 10 — A girl sent to shovel snow becomes the Snow Queen in her winter palace, watching ice ballerinas fall from the sky until her father joins her imagination.

Story·Natalie Wittenbrook, age 11 — A twelve-year-old girl whose father hunts wolves for pelts rescues an orphaned wolf pup and, with help from the Animal Society, eventually convinces her father to stop commercial hunting.

Poetry·Ben Amoss, age 10 — A snake's morning routine along the Mississippi River ends abruptly with an encounter with a wheel, told through sensory details and simple movements.

Story·Natalia M. Thompson, age 11 — A girl who stopped speaking Spanish to avoid classmates' mockery finds solace in the woods and resolves to reclaim her heritage language.

Story·Emma Loizeaux, age 11 — A girl recalls waking at 4:30 AM to climb Panther Mountain with her mother and grandparents, eating hard-boiled eggs while watching the sunrise from the summit.

Poetry·Mark Roberts, age 11 — A morning forest walk becomes a meditation on interconnection as the speaker observes woodpeckers, geese, manzanita trees, and realizes 'I am the tree, soil and sun.'

Story·Amy Cheetham, age 11 — A sensory tour through an idealized horse farm captures the sights, sounds, and smells of barn life from grain room to arena to pasture.

Story·Caitlin Peterson, age 13 — A family at their cottage befriends a three-legged deer they name Tripod, watching her survive and thrive over six years despite her disability.

Story·Megan M. Gannett, age 13 — A girl climbs her favorite tree at dawn to witness spring's arrival, reflecting on nature's renewal and the wisdom found in stillness versus society's constant rush.