For Older Readers

The stories and poems in this section may be most appropriate for young adult readers, but have something that can be enjoyed by everyone.

Plum Tea

Her voice, gently rattling
like a bamboo thicket in the breeze—
greets me as I step over the threshold.
Xiang si ni le:
“I’ve missed you to death.”

August 6

The ocean was just a sliver in the distance, too far away to be seen from the ground. When the war is over, she thought, I’m going to go to the ocean, and I’ll swim and swim and swim, and I’m never going to stop.

Smiles Are Not Silly Things

Father sat beside his daughter said, “Marianne, smiles are silly things, a mere facial ornament, inconsequential, fleeting, even under right conditions. One could live a perfectly good and happy life without a perfectly good and happy smile.”

Let Her Run

The moment I saw Artie Ranberg, I knew there was something special about him. Fresh off the bus for my first day at Traverse City High, he stood at the front of a queue of upperclassmen, shaking hands and welcoming all of us freshmen to our new...

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