parents

Story·Sharon Wang, age 12 — A mother tells her daughter about strangers who helped her stuck car in a blizzard years ago, and how she repaid their kindness by helping others on snowy roads.

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·Brendan Cunningham, age 8 — A boy captures his father through three vivid scenes: carpenter at his desk, football coach on the field, and dad reading bedtime stories.

Story·Kyle Eichner, age 13 — A young wife in 1896 South Carolina cares for her husband dying of consumption, their memories of courtship interweaving with his final days and the birth of their daughter.

Story·Devin McKissic, age 11 — During the Russian Revolution, a young aristocrat works in a hospital while worrying about her brother at war and witnessing her family's changing views on the Tsar.

Poetry·Katie Ferman, age 11 — A child recalls traveling interstate routes with her father, listening to Willie Nelson, wishing she could relive that hazy memory a thousand times.

Story·Annam Nayak, age 12 — A young man who can speak to birds is banished by his father after revealing an unwelcome prophecy, but returns years later wealthy and wise, fulfilling the birds' prediction.

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.

Poetry·Mira Bernstein Kaufman, age 11 — A child swimming with her father discovers strength in diving under waves instead of fighting them, finding joy in the ocean's power.

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.