finding home

Poetry·Gabrielle Mott, age 8 — Peace arrives like moonlight through a window, then expands into visions of mountain streams, glass-still pools, and fields where doves coo sweetly.

Story·Katie Woodward, age 12 — In 1957 Ohio, a lonely girl befriends an elderly Cherokee boarder who brings the first snow in twenty years and teaches her that she is loved.

Story·Amanda Pertierra, age 13 — In 1942 Philippines, a ten-year-old girl watches her family's sugar plantation burn as American forces evacuate them to prevent Japanese occupation of their home.

Story·Bethany Walker, age 13 — Two cousins exploring a Florida ranch forest encounter wildlife and flee in panic from an alligator sunning on a canal bank, later laughing at their overreaction.

Story·Katie Sinclair, age 13 — During a storm at an inn, a traveling storyteller tells of a mysterious Fisherwoman who died saving her child, whose return will bring rain back to drought-stricken Searain.

Story·Emma Agnew, age 13 — A girl escapes to a secret garden after fighting with her mother, where memories of visiting the same garden as a child help her find forgiveness.

Poetry·Misha Kydd, age 12 — A reader finds refuge in a library chair by the window, where fictional battles of knights and dragons prove easier to face than real-world problems.

Poetry·Claudia Celovsky, age 13 — A young sailor steers a boat with her grandmother, finding joy in both the physical sensations of sailing and the warmth of their connection.

Story·Emina S. Sonnad, age 11 — A homesick Hawaiian girl meets an exuberant neighbor in an Oregon meadow who shows her a secret grove of cherry blossoms, where she glimpses their future friendship in a frozen...

Story·William Gwaltney, age 10 — A girl searches for the perfect apple in her grandfather's orchard, remembering her grandmother who died last year, and discovers a new way forward through shared grief.