self-discovery

Story·Kyra Yip, age 11 — A girl with severe food allergies navigates birthday parties, medical emergencies, and social awkwardness, ultimately finding strength in her difference rather than shame.

Poetry·Maya Wolfford, age 13 — Natural elements—waterfall, brambles, ocean, rose—hide their true natures behind false facades until one rose's kindness earns it the gift of beauty.

Poetry·Maya Wolfford, age 13 — Fire-colored butterflies, falling snow, and guiding stars become a meditation on how fate guides rather than controls, ending with the declaration that not all maps must be followed.

Poetry·Rebecca Beaver, age 13 — A speaker confronts the loss of their heart to the moon, becoming a whisper of their former self in this surreal exploration of identity and emptiness.

Story·Sydney Burr, age 11 — A girl who writes by a mountain stream is transported into her own story about an Egyptian pyramid, where she meets her protagonist and must find a way out.

Poetry·Ana Carpenter, age 10 — A girl imagines being queen of the world, floating above in moonlight and clouds, but discovers the weight of such power and chooses ordinary life instead.

Poetry·Tommy Swartz, age 12 — A 12-year-old's anxious inner monologue cycles through worries about jokes, death, regrets, and daily stresses in short, punchy lines.

Story·Jerry Xia — A boy confronts his fear of spiders during a nighttime trip to the garage refrigerator, learning to see them as fellow creatures just trying to survive.

Poetry·Gilbert Huang, age 9 — A young writer describes the physical and emotional sensations of writing, from smoothness to nervousness to the monstrous feeling of being stuck.

Story·Kaya Simcoe, age 11 — A girl discovers that paradise isn't just a California beach but something she carries with her, from hotel rooms to airplane windows to her New York apartment.