finding one's voice

Story·Jubilee Sung — A bored 12-year-old builds a time machine from trash, travels to ancient Alexandria with her talking cat, and must convince Julius Caesar not to burn the library to save human...

Poetry·Mara Occhuizzo — Morning light and wind become a meditation on listening to silence — mountains, birds, voices, and things unheard speak through a bedroom window.

Story·Willem Ehret — Lonely Athena, tired of being mocked by the other gods, invents humans to worship her wisdom, then cleverly trades each god's modifications for respect and power.

Poetry·Emma Catherine Hoff — A woman sits alone in an automat, invisible to others, as her hair whispers conflicting advice and laughing people demand she smile.

Poetry·Mary G. Lane — A zoo visitor observes how elephant shrews, overshadowed by elephants, still find their way into visitors' memories and diaries despite their smallness.

Story·Roxy Pilcher, age 8 — The Moon asks forest animals to become stars to light the night sky; when the mountain lion finds no dots left, he transforms into the Northern Lights instead.

Poetry·Madeline Male — A meditation on time as both enemy and friend, resolving to embrace each day's activities rather than mourn its passing.

Poetry·Pauline McAndrew — A mixed-race teenager rejects the 'café au lait' metaphor others use, claiming instead the power of being a thunderstorm where opposing forces create energy and change.

Story·Eileen Yoo — A girl discovers a buried box meant for someone else, follows cryptic clues through the woods to find a key, and gains the courage to finally speak up to her...

Personal Narrative·Ella Fu — A third grader reflects on her growth over the school year, recognizing changes in maturity, self-discipline, and confidence in standing up to bullies.