connection to nature

Poetry·McKenzie Steury, age 11 — A girl walking on the beach discovers a baby turtle emerging from the sand and protects it from predators until it reaches the sea.

Story·Hannah Ferreira, age 11 — A girl escapes her stifling bedroom on a summer night to lie in the grass under moonlight, until her mother gently brings her back inside.

Poetry·Abigail Rose Cargo, age 13 — A boat being pulled from water becomes a meditation on the narrow margins between opposing forces—connection and separation, life and death.

Poetry·Celie Kreilkamp, age 12 — Rain transforms a city into a sanctuary, wrapping it in gray blankets of mist while thunder and lightning create a world apart from complications.

Poetry·Celie Kreilkamp, age 12 — Rain transforms a small city into a sanctuary, wrapping it in gray blankets of mist while revealing simple beauties in puddles and lightning.

Story·Brooke Hemingway, age 13 — A lonely Indian boy finds friendship and belonging when a girl from his school discovers him at his secret pond refuge, and they dance together in the frozen forest.

Story·Jane Westrick, age 12 — A young climber encounters a cougar on a mountain ledge and saves herself by singing the same lullaby she once used to tame her childhood cat.

Poetry·Morgan Harris Green, age 8 — Night sounds — crickets chirping, owls hooting, wind whispering — create a sensory portrait of darkness falling, mixing beauty with an undertone of cold unease.

Story·Sarah Shissler, age 12 — A writer recalls her first trip to Alaska ten years ago, where she befriended a pack of wolves—Lakota, Pike, and Kepa—and witnessed their struggles to survive through a brutal winter.

Story·Emily Taylor, age 11 — Two girls discover a hidden stamp collection from 1943 in the woods, track down its elderly owner, and learn why he hid it during World War II.