cultural heritage

Story·Molly O'Toole, age 12 — A girl finally gets her turn to be Lucia in her Swedish family's St. Lucia Day celebration, but forgets the words to the traditional song at the crucial moment.

Story·Albert Shu, age 10 — In 1960 China during the Great Leap Forward famine, a hungry boy eats his entire lunch bread on the way to school, remembering his family's lost wealth.

Story·Nate Sheehan, age 12 — A Japanese boy moves to America in 1956 and faces bullying until a friend named Conrad stands up for him, ultimately getting expelled for defending him in a fight.

Story·Ethan Archibald, age 13 — A son profiles his mother, a Chinese immigrant who expresses herself through cooking, weaving together her Beijing childhood, American journey, and culinary mastery.

Story·Katherine Tung, age 11 — A seven-year-old Taiwanese immigrant girl chases a boy who steals her five-dollar bill at the market, learning hard lessons about trust and resilience in her new country.

Story·Naomi Wendland, age 12 — A daughter breaks her mother's precious clay pot while fetching water, lies about it, then confesses. Together they remake the pot from its broken pieces.

Story·Diane Duboise, age 11 — A Navajo boarding school student is haunted by visions of an angry gorilla until a traditional medicine man reveals the source and performs a healing ceremony.

Story·Corina Castillo, age 12 — A Navajo girl witnesses her grandfather, a medicine man, heal her mother from witchcraft by finding and burning a buried bear paw placed by a malevolent neighbor.

Story·Yuthilcar Sokban — A Cambodian child recounts surviving the Khmer Rouge regime, forced labor camps, dangerous escape attempts, and eventual journey to freedom in America.