identity

Story·Emily Blackmer, age 12 — A thirteen-year-old writer rises at dawn on the summer solstice to watch the sunrise alone, finding validation for her literary dreams in nature's voice.

Story·Jeanne Mack, age 12 — A Korean boy moves to America to join his father but cannot speak English aloud until a chess game with his tutor breaks through his fear.

Story·Xian Chiang-Waren — After a baby's drowning death, thirteen-year-old Eve and her sister are sent from their Massachusetts island home to the mainland while their mother recovers from grief.

Story·Kevin Zhou, age 13 — A Cuban immigrant dominates the Little League World Series with perfect games until guilt over lying about his age forces him to confess, sacrificing his baseball dreams.

Poetry·Brendan Cunningham, age 8 — A boy captures his father through three vivid scenes: carpenter at his desk, football coach on the field, and dad reading bedtime stories.

Story·Natalia M. Thompson, age 11 — A girl who stopped speaking Spanish to avoid classmates' mockery finds solace in the woods and resolves to reclaim her heritage language.

Story·Monica Del Toral, age 12 — During the Pearl Harbor attack, a young Japanese-American woman searches desperately for her brother among the wreckage while confronting sudden hostility from her neighbors.

Story·Emma Kilgore Hine, age 12 — When knights leave for battle, a noble girl who dreams of heroism must defend her castle from enemy attack, proving herself as the warrior she longs to be.

Story·Caroline Lu, age 10 — A girl narrates her family's early morning departure from North Carolina to Texas, struggling to accept leaving the only home she's ever known.

Story·Molly Dektar, age 13 — A girl receives a mysterious package containing both an elf hat that once excluded her and her childhood Hanukkah hat, forcing her to reconsider identity and belonging.