seeing beauty in the ordinary

Story·Amanda Kneppel, age 13 — A girl reluctantly follows her friend out her bedroom window at midnight to explore a moonlit field, discovering freedom and wonder in the darkness she once feared.

Fog

Poetry·Robin Sandell, age 11 — Evening fog cascades over mountains like a waterfall, settles in the valley through sunset, then retreats at dawn back to the sea.

Story·Freya Trefonides, age 12 — A teenager watches her four-year-old cousin Rose repeatedly climb things she shouldn't, capturing a perfect photo of Rose in her special apple tree before realizing this moment might be forgotten.

Story·Ani Wilcenski, age 11 — A boy watches snow transform the landscape and records the lives of forest creatures, while his father sees only an eyesore to remove.

Poetry·Zinnia Schwartz, age 10 — A sudden storm transforms a sunny afternoon in the park, sending a child running and slipping on raindrops as darkness overtakes the day.

Poetry·Sarah Wood, age 12 — A hummingbird hovers at a window screen, holding the speaker's gaze in a moment of mutual wariness before vanishing in a green streak.

Story·Anika Kwan, age 10 — A girl annoyed by her younger neighbor's clinginess realizes she's the child's role model, just as an older girl once was for her.

Poetry·Nastassja Carusetta, age 13 — A granddaughter and grandfather share quiet tea on the back porch, watching the sunset and listening to the world together in companionable silence.

Poetry·Jeremy Trujillo, age 12 — Two dogs race across a beach where sunset transforms lake and sand into fiery red, ending with them asleep in the blood-colored landscape.

Story·Cammie Keel, age 13 — Sisters embark on an Easter morning scavenger hunt after the younger one pranks the older with a wind-up rabbit, celebrating spring's arrival together.