freedom

Poetry·Eden Amital, age 13 — Gulls fly between mountain peaks while the immobile rocks' shadows dance below, exploring the contrast between movement and stillness in a landscape.

Story·Erik Dinardo — In the antebellum South, an enslaved girl named Hope learns her mother will be sold, prompting escape plans, while the master's daughter Abigail faces a moral choice.

Story·Nicky Cannon, age 12 — A boy races from car to ocean, feeling invincible in the Atlantic waves until his mother calls him back to ordinary life at nightfall.

Story·Nicky Cannon, age 12 — A boy races from car to ocean, feeling invincible in the waves until his mother calls him back to ordinary life at nightfall.

Story·Julia Gaitley, age 12 — A girl at an aquarium loses her older brother while daydreaming about seals' freedom, then finds comfort in a wandering turtle while waiting to be found.

Poetry·Isabel Sutter, age 13 — A girl climbs her backyard oak tree and finds a moment of transcendent joy where all worries dissolve into the beauty of sky and wind.

Poetry·Bailey Victoria Nold, age 10 — A young poet urges readers to step outside and notice their freedom, safety, and luck through simple observations of birds, melting snow, and neighborhood play.

Story·Olivia Smit, age 12 — A captive cheetah dreams of freedom while watching his brothers die from starvation, until a woman rescues him and returns him to the African savannah.

Story·Emily Grant, age 11 — A girl discovers a magical black horse that transforms into a ghost, learning his true name is Leeto before he gallops away to freedom.

Story·Madeleine S. Gregory, age 12 — A girl follows a fox through a magical spring into another world, where she's tricked into slavery before the fox helps her escape.