war

Poetry·Tatiana Rebecca Shrayer, age 13 — A cast iron staircase in a restored Russian school is the only original element remaining, holding memories of young women who once descended with diplomas and dreams of freedom.

Poetry·Tatiana Rebecca Shrayer, age 13 — A young visitor to Sobibór death camp touches the train tracks and imagines herself as a child searching for murdered parents.

Story·Anya Geist, age 13 — A nine-year-old Jewish boy is smuggled from Warsaw to Switzerland inside a curtain during WWII, separated from his family but eventually finding hope through a letter confirming their safety.

Story·Eli Spaulding, age 11 — A digger at a World War III archaeological site discovers a general's journal that reveals how soldiers were lost in a catastrophic storm, changing his family's fortunes.

Story·Seoyon Kim, age 12 — A freelance journalist travels to Syria to report on the civil war, interviewing refugees in a camp and finding wisdom in an elderly woman's perspective on conflict.

Story·Phoebe Donovan, age 11 — A boy grieving his father's death begins seeing visions of a magical war led by General X, who resembles his dad, until reality and fantasy blur dangerously.

Story·Emma McKinny, age 13 — A girl attends her father's opening night performance in an opera about the atomic bomb, where the show's depiction of nuclear devastation awakens her anger about historical injustice.

Story·Mia Fang, age 13 — After her father loses his job and joins the military, Lily struggles with anger and guilt until the day a messenger arrives with devastating news.

Story·Eva Juette, age 11 — In Nazi-occupied Denmark, two girls hide their Jewish friend and her mother in a closet during a terrifying search, transforming a childhood game into survival.

Story·Arabella McClendon, age 13 — Alien scouts investigate Earth, finding a planet too corrupt to rehabilitate but too good to destroy, so they quarantine it until humanity can heal itself.