ACARA Years 3-6

Personal Narrative·Yanling Lin, age 10 — A school field trip continues despite torrential rain, leaving students soaked and miserable until they finally return to school after doing nothing but stand in the downpour.

Poetry·Gideon Rose, age 9 — A man without food or water, beaten and robbed, continues to think only of love—revealed to be the poet's own experience.

Poetry·Raeha Khazanchi, age 11 — Northern lights transform a winter landscape, turning snow green and hair violet-blue in a private celestial performance witnessed by the speaker.

Personal Narrative·Sophia Hammond, age 11 — A second-grader struggles with reading aloud during class, feeling excluded until a supportive tutor helps her overcome her challenges and gain confidence.

Poetry·Alisa Zou, age 12 — A young girl on a plane to America watches China disappear behind her, tears streaming as she realizes how far she is from home.

Poetry·Tessa Hsieh Schumacher, age 10 — A young writer explores her name through sound and image, from clear streams to butterfly wings, discovering it as her core of courage and uniqueness.

Personal Narrative·Michelle Wang, age 12 — A Chinese immigrant child's first day of American school transforms from terror to tentative hope when a classmate extends a gentle hand of friendship.

Poetry·Avery Lakomy, age 12 — A young poet questions why we divide the world into regions when their eyes see only one unified place where all people belong together.

Personal Narrative·Raya Ilieva, age 10 — During California's 2020 wildfires, a girl wakes to an apocalyptic orange sky and wonders when the world will return to normal.

Poetry·Emma Catherine Hoff, age 8 — A child imagines friends attending a funeral in Los Angeles, writes herself a letter from them, then greets their actual return with the comfort of her own fiction.