identity

Poetry·Jonah O'Hara David, age 10 — A prose poem explores the color black through a series of sensory images, from crows to horses, culminating in a meditation on loss and racial identity.

Story·Ella Staats, age 11 — A tomboy daughter discovers her mother's insistence on frilly dresses stems from her own deprived childhood, leading to mutual understanding and acceptance.

Story·Marie-Rose Sheinerman, age 12 — An eleven-year-old returns from Russia to New York and is detained at customs, intensifying her desperate longing to reunite with her parents and her city.

Story·Krystle DiCristofalo, age 12 — Three friends exploring an abandoned house discover photographs in the basement showing children who look exactly like them, wearing the same old clothes they've been trying on.

Story·Emily Worrell, age 12 — In 1940s America, a girl defies gender expectations to join the local baseball league, facing down the hostile coach and proving herself with a crucial home run.

Story·Elise Arancio, age 11 — A tomboy navigates her first softball practice, struggling between her natural hitting ability and a coach's instructions that don't feel right to her.

Story·Jenna Fields, age 12 — A bucking bronco narrates his life from birth to rodeo legend, revealing the fierce determination and isolation that define his existence as 'the fighter.'

Story·Anna Haverly, age 13 — A twelve-year-old slave named Curtis escapes via the Underground Railroad with Harriet Tubman, reaching Canada where he reunites with his father and gains the surname Freedom.

Story·Sophia Chang, age 13 — A girl with amber eyes discovers she's a daughter of Bastet, joining a pack of feline women who hunt together under the stars.

Story·Evelyn Chen, age 10 — In ancient Rome, a rebellious girl secretly learns to read from a neighbor boy who must move away, leaving her with letters that sustain their friendship and her forbidden education.