responsibility

Story·Jenna Fields, age 12 — An owl hunts through moonlit woods to feed her soon-to-hatch eggs, fights off a raccoon predator, and returns to witness her chicks emerging into the world.

Story·Ariana González Silas, age 11 — Two sisters left home alone escalate from bickering to a kitchen accident that brings them together when the older sister rushes the younger to the hospital.

Story·Kyle Trefny, age 11 — A boy joins his marine biologist father on a rescue mission to free a bottlenose dolphin trapped in fishing nets fourteen miles off the California coast.

Story·Kaley Birchfield, age 11 — A volunteer at a goat farm becomes attached to a sickly newborn goat she names Barney, nurses him to health, then must find him a loving home when he's sold.

Poetry·Aiwen L. Desai, age 12 — A wolf's howl, an elephant's wail, a polar bear's lament become nature's collective plea for humans to stop destroying and start creating a world where all creatures can thrive.

Story·Trentin Lyle Stalnaker, age 11 — A boy accidentally shoots a squirrel with his BB gun, then desperately tries to save it, confronting his guilt and the reality of what he's done.

Story·Tatum Cocotos, age 13 — Through secret letters, Storm warns their cousin Bobbi on Planet 236 that the space station headquarters plans to cut off supplies to the colonies permanently.

Story·Nikitha Raju, age 11 — During a storm in Revolutionary War-era America, a girl defies her mother to fetch a doctor for her sick baby brother, evading horse thieves along the way.

Story·David Vapnek, age 12 — A star running back plays through concussion symptoms with a cracked helmet in the championship game, scores the winning touchdown, but may never play football again.

Story·Hannah Ogden, age 13 — During a fierce Irish storm, Emma ventures into the woods to find her lost sheep and encounters a fairy ring of dancing leprechauns who help her home in exchange for...