PRESSING FLOWERS PASSED THE TIME Awarded Honorable Mention in 2025 Spring Fling Contest
May 6, 2025—PRESSING FLOWERS PASSED THE TIME received an honorable mention in the “Beautifully Written” category in the 2025 Spring Fling Contest, hosted by literary agent Kaitlyn Leann Sanchez and children’s author Ciara O’Neal.
PRESSING FLOWERS PASSED THE TIME follows a young girl struggling to find the final flower for her herbarium as a gift for her mom’s long-awaited homecoming. Read the full story below.
The annual Spring Fling Contest is open to kidlit writers. It features spring-inspired stories geared toward children, 12 and under. Each entry, which must be 150 words at most, includes the gif that inspired it. The contest was created to fill a gap in the schedule of seasonally inspired kidlit contests.
PRESSING FLOWERS PASSED THE TIME
There’s a whole world inside my herbarium: flowers that never fade, memories forever saved.
I pick flowers when they’re fresh and put them in my press.
In a few days’ time, they’re dry.
I’m saving them to show Mom.
I’ve filled her library with wildflowers between the pages, like illustrations,
Stories of what I saw while she was deployed.
Today she’ll come home and see my flowers for the first time.
There’s one more to press.
Velvety red roses, her favorites—the hardest to preserve.
I’ve plucked them with no luck. In my press, they get crushed.
Only wild-grown roses will do.
For hours I search the nearby woods. There—in the thicket, rambling roses flourish!
They’re perfect…but I can’t wait days for them to dry.
I press them in parchment paper and run the iron.
With one pass, my herbarium is finally ready to explore as Mom walks through the door.
