nature

Poetry·Colin Johnson, age 11 — A golden trout waits beneath tourmaline water for flies to land, then strikes with predatory precision before settling into warm mud to sleep.

Story·Emma King, age 11 — A girl travels from New York to South Africa, experiencing the ocean's power and beauty, finding a magical shell that her young cousin takes, teaching her about letting go.

Story·Emma Kilgore Hine, age 13 — A girl crafts a tiny boat from bark and wildflowers beside a New Mexican mountain stream, then releases it to drift away like a fairy ship.

Poetry·Alyssum Quaglia, age 12 — A landlord tends his garden at dawn, moving through dewy grass to pull weeds and care for lettuce and strawberries in the quiet morning.

Story·Ralphie Kabo, age 11 — Rabbit soldier Brumm rises through ranks to defend Fort Cuniculus against fox invaders, forging alliances with dingoes and kangaroos in an Australian bush war.

Story·Margaret Bryan, age 10 — A girl treasures a robin's feather and its song, loses the feather to her sister's art project, then rediscovers music's magic through her sister's violin playing.

Story·Karin Denton, age 12 — A girl reluctantly visits her family's new house, escapes the paint fumes to explore the woods behind it, and discovers a hidden meadow that helps her accept the move.

Poetry·Sandra Detweiler, age 13 — A lyrical meditation on climbing above fog to find mountain peaks rising like islands from a sea of clouds below.

Poetry·Lotus Shen, age 11 — A catalog poem traces things that vanish — vapor trails, insects, melting snowflakes, flowing water — finding the hidden nature of everyday disappearances.

Poetry·Brooke Hemingway, age 13 — A wolf leads its pack into a moonlit clearing where the forest holds its breath and the world sparkles with otherworldly light.