Recently a friend of mine posted on Facebook a poem that her son wrote. When I read her comment under the poem, “Justen wants to publish this someday so bad!” I got to wondering if there are places for children to submit their creative work, beyond the last page of their local newspapers. I found this website that has compiled magazines and websites that not only publish children’s work, but often hold writing contests for them as well: http://www.fivestarpublications.com/kidscanpublish/contests.html. So, if you have a kid looking to start publishing early, have at it!
I’ll leave you with a couple of poems written by children when they were under the age of ten.
Night
Justen Wennerberg, at age 9
The day is nearly
done, and the sun lets
out a yawn, spreading
colors across the sky.
He gets in bed and
pulls a black blanket
over his body. As the
moon awakes, a marathon
of shooting stars is at
hand. Thousands of viewers
are watching them streak
across the sky while the
moon pours silver light
over the earth.
Chocolate
Andrew Emerson Pruett, at age 6
In the moon
I will rise
a thousand chocolate bars
in my eyes.
One, two, three,
four, five, six—
I will go
in a tunnel of mist.
Amy Marengo is getting an MFA in poetry at Virginia Tech.
The Minnesota Review 
Justen is my Grandson, and I couldn’t be prouder. He’s an insightful, bright and wonderful young man, who shows a level of maturity not seen in many adults. I love you buddy.
Launch Pad: Where Young Authors and Illustrators Take Off is on that list- we’d love to hear from some more young authors. When we accept a poem or story, we assign it to a young (ages 6-14) illustrator to illustrate! http://www.launchpadmag.com