ACARA Years 3-6

Story·Carmen Flax, age 10 — A ghostly lilac figure wanders through pine forests and black rivers on an October night, crying out in sorrow before retreating into shadows.

Story·Ava Bush, age 13 — A lonely woolly mammoth at a rigid academic school befriends a creative girl who teaches him about color-emotions, leading to their escape to a colorful utopia.

Poetry·Layla Linnard, age 11 — A child reflects on life before a new baby arrived, using a mirror structure to express the loss of sleep, space, and being a family of three.

Story·Andrew Wu, age 11 — A philosophical narrative following four reincarnated beings—seed, insect, fish, and bear—each discovering Nature's cyclical patterns of creation, destruction, and renewal through their brief lives.

Story·Eliana Schaffer, age 11 — A girl who believes she is perfect discovers emptiness within herself when her teacher sends her home, triggering her first tears and the beginning of real growth.

Story·Ziqing (Izzie) Peng, age 10 — A child describes their city's beauty through the day, then reveals how its bright lights confuse baby sea turtles, causing them to crawl away from the ocean.

Poetry·Patrick Lusa, age 11 — A counting poem tracks a day's progression from winter owls at 2 a.m. through summer heat, using numbers to structure observations of daily life.

Story·Lia Taylor, age 12 — A prince sent to find a bride falls for her brother instead, leading them to flee their kingdoms and establish a new land where love can flourish freely.

Poetry·Anya Geist, age 12 — A nocturnal tour through a small town captures the quiet life of buildings, objects, and creatures after dark, from creaking floorboards to a bobbing pond raft.

Story·Blanche Li, age 9 — A girl overcomes her fear of nightmares about people with disabilities when she befriends Kylie, a talented cellist with bionic arms, at music lessons.