family bonds

Story·Bonnie Robinson, age 11 — A boy finds a freezing kitten in the snow and fights to save her, discovering his mother's hidden past with pets and her fear of losing them again.

Story·Lia Regal, age 12 — A Brooklyn girl finds refuge in basketball as her parents' marriage dissolves, then moves to a coastal farmhouse after the divorce, starting fresh with a new team.

Story·Braden M. McDonald, age 10 — A boy discovers a hidden world beneath his grandparents' farm where woodpecker-rabbit hybrids attack him with hot embers and ice until his grandfather rescues him.

Poetry·John Roberts, age 13 — A family celebrates every small victory by dancing the tango together, with even the dogs joining in, creating a ritual of shared joy.

Story·Megan Gannett, age 13 — A twelve-year-old girl struggles with her parents' prolonged grief over her baby brother's death until her fiddle performance helps them all find healing.

Story·Andrea Albertini, age 13 — A working-class girl secretly drives four hours to audition at a prestigious music school with her grandmother's cello, hoping to win a scholarship her family can't afford.

Story·Luria Rittenberg, age 12 — A grandmother tells her granddaughter how, as a six-year-old lost in a blizzard, she was saved after kissing a mezuzah on a stranger's door—where her future husband found her.

Story·MadeIon Case — A father and daughter paddle across a misty lake at dawn, observing wildlife until a beaver slaps its tail in warning before disappearing into its dam.

Story·Melissa Merte, age 10 — A girl allergic to fur finds companionship in a praying mantis named Forget Me Not, who becomes a beloved pet before laying eggs and dying in the family's arms.

Story·Ashley Steever, age 13 — A circus clown loses his beloved leopard partner in a tragic accident, returns home to save his family's farm, marries his childhood sweetheart, then loses their daughter in another animal...