the power of imagination

Story·Jane Westrick, age 12 — A young climber encounters a cougar on a mountain ledge and saves herself by singing the same lullaby she once used to tame her childhood cat.

Story·Erin Brock, age 13 — A puzzle-loving girl falls asleep on an unfinished jigsaw and wakes up inside it as a colonial farm girl, discovering she must complete the puzzle from within to escape.

Story·Simon Reis, age 11 — A boy encounters a mysterious neighbor who claims to be Beethoven reincarnated, offering musical genius in exchange for sharing his deafness and suffering.

Story·Valerie Gill, age 13 — During a power outage, a girl discovers her computer mysteriously working and receives cryptic messages about Earth, humanity as parasites, and her role in learning everything.

Story·Pace Ellsworth, age 13 — A tiger stalks and kills an antelope, then discovers his cached prey has been disturbed by strange new creatures with vehicles, marking his first encounter with humans.

Poetry·Connor Park, age 12 — A young reader searches library shelves until discovering a forgotten red book with gold lettering that promises adventure despite its brevity.

Story·Allie Aguila, age 11 — A girl with amnesia wakes on a beach, joins a group of free children, and learns to fly by believing in herself—until she wakes from the dream.

Story·Joshua Bernheisel, age 10 — After his mother's death, a boy who once hated writing discovers fiction and publishes a book dedicated to her memory, finding friendship with his former bully.

Story·Liz Reeves, age 12 — A high-achieving student preparing for a prestigious science program rediscovers her abandoned passion for dance when an application asks what she's passionate about.

Story·Braden M. McDonald, age 10 — A boy discovers a hidden world beneath his grandparents' farm where woodpecker-rabbit hybrids attack him with hot embers and ice until his grandfather rescues him.