By Brandon Guevara, age 10, Ventura

Thick smoke covered the beachhead as Paul tightly gripped his rifle. Through the deafening noise of bombs and mortars exploding, he heard the commanding officer shouting, “Fifteen seconds, I’ll see you on the beach. God be with you!”

By Daniela Santos, age 12, California

It was a sunny Monday school day in a small house in El Salvador, and Federico was waking up. Federico’s house was not the biggest. He shared a room with his parents and his sister, but he was fine with that.

By Ivette Cardenas Alvarado, age 12, California

On a warm, smoggy Monday morning in East Los Angeles, California, a teenage girl named Luciana woke up in her room, smelling burnt pancakes her mom had made.

By Lily Garceau, age 8

As morning broke, all the fairies got ready for the long day in the meadow. When Rosie awoke, she rushed out of her little cottage into the meadow.

By Melany Chevez Gutierrez, age 11, California

It was a sunny day in Brooksville, where a 19-year-old girl named Cindy was packing for her trip to go hiking with her dog, Ruffles.

By Jackson Hill, age 11, California

Red peppers or green? Samuel Holmes, age 10, had been apprenticed to his father, a journalist, for the Boston Gazette, Boston’s most popular newspaper.