identity
— A boy on his first duck hunt with his father struggles between wanting to please his dad and his inability to kill the mallard in his sights.
— A poem confronts a classmate who casually weaponized the speaker's adoption status, exploring how thoughtless words can shatter trust and leave lasting wounds.
— A new fourth-grader navigates between popular girls who mock imaginative play and Phyllis, who plays animal games like her old best friend used to.
— A Japanese-American teenager recounts her family's forced internment during WWII, from receiving the summons through years at Manzanar to liberation that brings no true freedom.
— A boy recounts the aftermath of a crash he can't remember, describing the physical trauma and how others see him differently while he remains the same inside.
— A girl swimmer fights back when a new coach declares girls aren't good enough for competitive swimming, leading her teammates to crash the boys' tryouts and prove him wrong.
— A high-achieving student preparing for a prestigious science program rediscovers her abandoned passion for dance when an application asks what she's passionate about.
— A girl raised by lions in Africa encounters humans who might be her birth parents and must choose between two families.
— A second-grader leaves school early for a phone call from her father's childhood nurse in Greece, navigating language barriers and discovering her connection to a namesake grandmother.
— A thirteen-year-old writer rises before dawn on the summer solstice to watch the sunrise alone, finding validation for her literary dreams in nature's voice.