neighbors

Personal Narrative·Yanling Lin — A Halloween night becomes a meditation on moral choices when the narrator faces unattended candy bowls with 'Please Take 1' signs and witnesses another child take everything.

Story·Naaman Garcia — A farmer discovers a mysterious seed that grows into a tree bearing giant blocks of cheese, builds a cheese business with his neighbor, then loses everything to lightning.

Story·Emily Chang — A girl helping her elderly neighbor organize her attic discovers a French horn that triggers memories and leads to a medical emergency, forcing her to confront family tensions.

Story·Emily Chang — A competitive swimmer's rivalry with her perfect cousin intensifies when an injury sidelines her from the season's final meet, revealing unexpected connections between them.

Personal Narrative·Gabrielle McCaskill — A girl reluctantly moves from Bellevue to New York, clinging to memories of her neighborhood, best friend, and the places that shaped her childhood.

Poetry·Madeleine Palter — A prose poem captures the sensory landscape of a neighborhood street through wind, racing cars, crunching leaves, gossip, and flickering streetlights.

Story·Translated from Urdu by Zahraa Haq, Art by Karuna Yang — A forgetful servant trying to remember the word for salt keeps adopting new phrases from people he meets, creating misunderstandings until a cobbler accidentally reminds him.

Poetry·Kimberly Hu — A meditation on how quiet neighborhoods and all places contain hidden fullness, where every creature from birds to spiders belongs in the peaceful whole.

Story·Beatrice C. de Baca — A girl who lives in a pumpkin house sells pies to buy a silk dress for a quinceañera, disguises herself to attend, but finds acceptance when her friend defends her.

Story·Tatum Lovely, age 12 — A perfect little girl meets her imaginative neighbor who takes her on a magical journey through a silver door to a Second World of castles, lollipop gardens, and rainbow-chasing ships.