By Jennifer Turney
2018 Winner: Young Adult
Chapter 1
Merim and Janus clawed through another mound of soft, wet moss, the earthy scent causing each of them to sneeze in turn. She, wearing the last small pair of gloves and he, shouldering the bag and insisting she move faster at their task. It wasn’t often that they found a pocket of such fresh, lush greenery, deep in the thick and mountainous Asian landscape. They were eager to collect it before someone else came to claim it, not that the nomads ran into strangers often. It also wasn’t often that Merim and Janus were able to work together companionably.
By Lenore Butcher
by Christina Kilbourne
After Hamar died, I took the kids into town for pizza. Gunner had been to the pizza restaurant lots of times before, but the other kids never had. So we dressed up in our best clothes, the same we wore to the cemetery for Hamar’s funeral, and piled into the truck. Gunner drove with the twins and me in the front seat: the boys sat in the truck bed with their backs against the cab and their arms hugging their knees. It was a warm day and the sun was burning strong. I felt good with a bit of Hamar’s money tucked in my pocket and my kids smiling and chattering with excitement. Gunner looked proud to be driving us, going out to dinner like a family from a TV show, and I was proud of him, my eldest. I knew I wouldn’t often spend the money on stuff like this, but now and then I thought we deserved it.