wonder

Poetry·Raeha Khazanchi, age 11 — Northern lights transform a winter landscape, turning snow green and hair violet-blue in a private celestial performance witnessed by the speaker.

Poetry·Jake Sun, age 9 — A philosophical meditation on the concept of nothing — its paradoxical presence in absence, its role in thought and space, and its unexpected value in our lives.

Poetry·Sofie Dardzinski, age 9 — A young philosopher contemplates time's mysterious nature — how it stretches through space, moves at different speeds, and ultimately asks what we do with it.

Personal Narrative·Lara Fraenkel, age 11 — A girl traces her evolving understanding of clouds from childhood fantasies of cotton candy and fairies to learning the water cycle in school, finding wonder in scientific truth.

Poetry·Benjamin Ding, age 9 — Thirteen playful poems explore opposites, paradoxes, wordplay, and environmental concerns through a child's inventive lens, ending with a critique of materialism versus nature.

Poetry·Summer Loh, age 8 — A child observes a yellow woodpecker pecking at a tree, wonders about its purpose, then watches it glide away like a paper airplane.

Story·Rose Amer, age 10 — A girl who hates her ugliness wishes on a star to bring her stone gargoyle to life, then learns through painful transformations that she was already beautiful.

Poetry·Tatiana Rebecca Shrayer, age 13 — Morning fog lifts as blackbirds sing and a coyote chases a dog, leaving the speaker wondering who cleared the fog away.

Poetry·Tatiana Rebecca Shrayer, age 13 — A young poet transforms a seashell into a golden rose, a spiral staircase, and a tower, finding ancient scrolls of saltwater within its chambers.

Poetry·Analise Braddock, age 9 — A young poet searches for a golden orb for seven days, finally discovering it feels unexpectedly salty to the touch.