trees

Poetry·Sabrina Guo, age 11 — A money tree in the living room becomes a meditation on luck, family traditions, and whether fortune is given or made.

Story·Emma A. Lunbeck, age 12 — A city girl discovers freedom and friendship with wild-haired Robbie during a brief stay in the country, then must leave him behind.

Poetry·Adair Brooks — Winter sunlight streaming through bare branches becomes a lesson about finding warmth in cold seasons, rendered in both English and Japanese.

Poetry·Miyo Kurosaki, age 12 — Winter sunlight streaming through bare branches becomes a lesson about finding warmth in cold seasons, written in both English and Japanese.

Poetry·Natalie Lam, age 12 — Rain transforms from mist to downpour, its gray fingers reaching through fog and pine trees, as the speaker celebrates the wet beauty of their Pacific Northwest home.

Story·Cameron Mckeich, age 11 — A boy returns to his late grandfather's wilderness farm for the first time since his death, finding solace when sunlight breaks through storm clouds onto a magnolia tree.

Poetry·Isabel Taylor, age 13 — A young writer expresses the desire to dissolve boundaries between self and nature, imagining feet sinking into dirt, floating as water, swaying in trees.

Story·Isabel Harding, age 13 — During an autumn storm, forest creatures—a squirrel, owl, fox, mole, and others—struggle for shelter and food, their lives intersecting in a complex web of survival.

Story·Hilary Miller, age 13 — A Thai girl defies her overprotective mother to save their home by selling the family's beloved mango tree to pay off the mortgage.

Poetry·Mark Roberts, age 11 — A wooden treasure box carved from Australian jarrah wood tells its centuries-long journey from forest to sailing ship ballast to African railroad ties, now holding memories.