the power of imagination

Story·Emily Blackmer, age 12 — A thirteen-year-old writer rises at dawn on the summer solstice to watch the sunrise alone, finding validation for her literary dreams in nature's voice.

Story·Sharon Wang, age 12 — A mother tells her daughter about strangers who helped her stuck car in a blizzard years ago, and how she repaid their kindness by helping others on snowy roads.

Story·Madeline Johnson, age 10 — A girl loses her beloved tiger Beanie Baby at the beach, and the story alternates between her grief and the stuffed animal's ocean adventure before their reunion.

Story·Will Stroud, age 13 — A wolf named Buck leads his pack in a three-day hunt through the Alaskan wilderness, finally cornering and killing a formidable old moose.

Story·Hannah Berman — Buck the wolf leads his pack on a three-day hunt through Alaskan wilderness, tracking and ultimately killing a formidable old moose in a violent confrontation.

Story·Delia Rainey, age 10 — A girl sent to shovel snow becomes the Snow Queen in her winter palace, watching ice ballerinas fall from the sky until her father joins her imagination.

Poetry·Andrea Begin, age 12 — A speaker accidentally rips a map and imagines the torn paper could magically bring her closer to a distant friend she misses.

Story·Audrey Crockett, age 12 — A girl finds her perfect horse at a failing stable, but when her superstitious mother refuses, she creates an elaborate scheme involving a fake dream to change her mind.

Poetry·Max Mendelsohn, age 12 — A celebration of marbles through their sounds, colors, and textures, comparing them to children playing and stars lighting up the world.

Story·Caitlin Peterson, age 13 — Two sisters create a secret midnight world for their stuffed animals in the woods, rebuild it after destruction, and return twenty years later with their own daughters.