night

Poetry·Sarah Kim Perry, age 11 — A single snowflake lands on a windowpane at midnight, becoming a silent witness to candlelight inside and stars outside.

Story·Valerie Gill, age 13 — During a power outage, a girl discovers her computer mysteriously working and receives cryptic messages about Earth, humanity as parasites, and her role in learning everything.

Story·Michelle Doré Sizemore, age 13 — A twelve-year-old boy runs away on a snowy night, believing his departure will prevent his parents' divorce, only to be found by police and returned home to face the truth.

Poetry·Sarah Dougherty, age 11 — A lightning bug carries the speaker's low spirit through gardens and town, returning it lit up and peaceful for a summer night's sleep.

Poetry·Sonja Skye Wooley, age 12 — A midnight journey from bed to kitchen for milk captures the disorienting sensory details of being awake at 3:30 A.M.

Story·Leah Richmond, age 11 — A girl struggles with insomnia on a school night, trying various methods to fall asleep until the sounds of nature finally calm her racing mind.

Poetry·Marley Powell, age 12 — A catalog of sounds in the aftermath of loss — from helicopters to stomach gurgles to silence — anchored by an empty iguana cage.

Poetry·Emma Rose Kirby — A child watches sunset from the beach, sees dolphins, rides waves on a boogie board, and promises to return tomorrow to the ocean shore.

Story·Danny Musher, age 13 — A young enslaved man flees through dark woods pursued by slave-catchers, finds what seems to be a safe house on the Underground Railroad, but is captured when the hiding place...

Poetry·Travis Wilkins-Smith, age 12 — A cacophony of crying baby sounds builds to overwhelming intensity until suddenly the infant sleeps and the house transforms into exaggerated silence.