ACARA Years 3-6
— Seventh graders torment a new student who attends class via video call, only to discover she has a disability when she finally arrives in person.
— After her parakeet dies, a girl receives a stone from a quiet classmate, then passes it to a grieving neighbor, discovering how small acts of kindness ripple outward.
— After her family cancels their annual carnival trip, an eleven-year-old runs away by bus to Lancaster, only to be immediately driven back home by her friend's mother.
— A child recalls digging in sand and being lifted by their father over crashing waves, finding belonging in that moment of safety and joy.
— A walker observes the ocean at sunset, noting waves, seagulls, and the changing sky as day transforms into starry night.
— A boy terrified of heights must overcome his fear when his cat gets trapped on a crumbling 20th-floor balcony that locks behind him.
— A mirror poem captures the dual nature of listening to music—the same notes can bring magnificence or screeching, beauty or pain, depending on perspective.
— A princess locked in a tower escapes during an attack on her castle, meets a girl living behind a waterfall, and finds a new home after losing everything.
— A dog named Hua Hua remembers playing in the park with Sarah before her illness, now keeping watch as she lies in bed, no longer able to go outside.
— After cruelly rejecting her younger brother's attempts to draw in her sketchbook, a girl learns he's been in a car accident and rushes to the hospital with her sketchbook.