facing fear

Story·Blanche Li, age 9 — A girl overcomes her fear of nightmares about people with disabilities when she befriends Kylie, a talented cellist with bionic arms, at music lessons.

Story·Claire Rinterknecht, age 13 — A travel writer who stopped traveling after his wife's death in a climbing accident has been faking his columns for years, until his niece discovers his secret.

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·Sophia Fu, age 9 — A girl discovers she has type 1 diabetes after days of exhaustion and illness, then adjusts to daily blood sugar checks and insulin shots.

Story·Allie Aguila, age 13 — A man seeking escape from anxiety tries experimental goggles that restore childlike imagination, but stays too long and encounters darkness that threatens to consume him.

Story·Sydney Burr, age 11 — A girl who writes by a mountain stream is transported into her own story about an Egyptian pyramid, where she meets her protagonist and must find a way out.

Poetry·Carly Vermillion, age 10 — A child experiences shifting light and darkness through ordinary moments — feeding fish, eating dinner, waking up — each scene marked by sudden changes in illumination.

Poetry·Tommy Swartz, age 12 — A 12-year-old's anxious inner monologue cycles through worries about jokes, death, regrets, and daily stresses in short, punchy lines.

Story·Sonja ten Grotenhuis, age 10 — A girl who can't ride a bike faces humiliation at bike camp until she meets Rosie, another struggling rider who offers genuine friendship.

Story·Jerry Xia — A boy confronts his fear of spiders during a nighttime trip to the garage refrigerator, learning to see them as fellow creatures just trying to survive.