resilience

Story·Tiffanie Goh, age 11 — A mute girl who finds solace in nature discovers she can communicate telepathically with a mountain cat, then runs away when her divorcing parents abandon her.

Poetry·Callen Bailey, age 12 — A five-year-old battles wind and waves in a canoe during an Adirondack storm, discovering strength and joy amid the chaos.

Poetry·Christiana Joiner, age 11 — A girl flees anger and homework to climb her beloved tree, where rough bark and height transform fury into tears and finally clarity.

Poetry·Nargi Golashi, age 13 — A young poet finds comfort in mathematical and scientific laws as unchanging truths that connect her to the universe and eternity.

Story·Olivia Cohen — A lonely Indian boy finds friendship and belonging when a girl from his school discovers him at his secret pond refuge in Minnesota.

Story·Ayla Schultz, age 13 — A girl crosses a desert alone, finds shelter in a mysterious house with an old woman who gives her a glass dragon, then wakes in town unsure if the house...

Story·Brooke Hemingway, age 13 — A lonely Indian boy finds friendship and belonging when a girl from his school discovers him at his secret pond refuge, and they dance together in the frozen forest.

Story·Jon Breed, age 13 — During a military coup in Sierra Leone, a fifth-grader shelters with his embassy family, finding and symbolically discarding a bullet that represents the violence surrounding them.

Story·Sarah Heng Blackburn, age 11 — Eight-year-old Soon-Soon Wang flees Cultural Revolution China for America after her parents are taken by the government, leaving behind her best friend Xiao-Long.

Story·Becky Shafer, age 13 — After surviving a plane crash, a boy struggles with trauma while his friend's family hobby store faces closure, both learning to face uncertain futures.