compassion

Story·Rosalie Stoner, age 11 — During the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, a young girl saves a lost child while fleeing through the chaos of Pompeii's destruction.

Story·Emily deLisle, age 10 — An Egyptian servant girl who is secretly the goddess Isis helps a hippo mother killed by hunters become the goddess Tawret, reuniting her with her family in the afterlife.

Poetry·Alyssum Quaglia, age 12 — A landlord tends his garden at dawn, moving through dewy grass to pull weeds and care for lettuce and strawberries in the quiet morning.

Story·Veronica Engler, age 13 — A dragon awaits knights coming to slay her, remembering her murdered family. When she recognizes her brother's killer, she chooses mercy over revenge before dying.

Story·Katherine Roth, age 13 — A girl looking after a neighbor's dog discovers the dog has escaped to find their missing cat, injured but alive in the woods after a snowstorm.

Story·Annakai Hayakawa Geshlider, age 9 — A girl secretly cares for neglected horses in Toronto until one morning they leap the fence and she rides with them toward the sunrise.

Story·Gus Ruchman, age 12 — After a tsunami kills his family, an eleven-year-old Muslim boy survives with a Hindu man who teaches him that faith transcends religious boundaries before dying in his arms.

Story·Hannah Krenn, age 13 — A girl shares her late grandfather's memory box with her younger sister to comfort her after classmates call her stupid, discovering that giving memories away multiplies their power.

Story·Sandra Detweiler, age 13 — A grieving girl meets a blind pianist after saving her from a bicycle collision, discovering friendship and music can pierce through darkness.

Story·Christina Suh, age 12 — A privileged Southern girl discovers her family's enslaved girl Susan attempting to escape and, after hearing Susan's story, helps her flee north to freedom.