war

Poetry·Necla Asveren, age 12 — After humanity reaches for the stars and drowns in riches, survivors emerge from bunkers to find a transformed world with golden moons and purple grass.

Story·Chamonix Fernandes, age 11 — A World War II veteran visits his best friend's grave, triggering memories of the day Joseph died saving him in a jungle ambush.

Story·Anya Geist, age 14 — A girl raised in the Land of the Clouds dreams of her forgotten parents on Earth, while learning about a prophecy and the dangerous Organization to Control Time.

Poetry·Analise Braddock, age 9 — A young poet captures the Revolutionary War through fragmented images of muskets, roses, and soldiers' faces molded by fear and braveness.

Story·Renee Wang, age 13 — A dying man in a retirement home reflects on his life's losses—a friend's death, a failed marriage, and the changing nature of chess—while watching a cherry tree bloom.

Poetry·Parwana Amiri, age 16 — A refugee teen's defiant catalog of what takes courage — building schools, welcoming the homeless, staying human — versus what's easy: destroying, hurting, closing your eyes.

Poetry·Parwana Amiri, age 16 — A dialogue poem between two voices moves from invitation to fly, through a refugee's plea for help, to a declaration of collective strength and resistance.

Poetry·Cora Burch, age 13 — A man barricades himself in a White House closet surrounded by weapons, flags, and symbols of power while small details reveal his unraveling control.

Story·Anonymous — A hungry five-year-old boy unknowingly reports his parents for treason to a dystopian government in exchange for candy, not understanding what he's done.

Personal Narrative·Claire Jiang, age 12 — A granddaughter traces her family's rise and fall through China's civil war and Cultural Revolution, from her great-grandfather's fruit business to burning ownership papers for survival.