ACARA Years 3-6
— Three surfers perform a silent New Year's dawn ritual at a California beach while a crowd watches, then celebration breaks out after they ride three perfect waves.
— A girl discovers that paradise isn't just a California beach but something she carries with her, from hotel rooms to airplane windows to her New York apartment.
— A child kneels by the Mississippi River, praying and remembering walks with her mother, feeling freedom in the water's flow and memories on its surface.
— A house cat gets locked outside during a snowstorm, survives a night in an alley and a raccoon encounter, then finds her way home to her worried human.
— A seventh-grader who loves baking in a family that doesn't understand him proves his worth by making extraordinary brownies that win them over.
— A girl befriends a blind harmonica player outside a store, giving him her candy money daily until one day he vanishes, leaving her changed.
— A girl reflects on eating chicken in China and at home, connecting the meals to her birth year of the rooster and what traditions mean across cultures.
— A matsutake mushroom narrates its journey from a Tibetan forest where it's harvested by a girl named Tashi, to a New York market, and finally to a new forest home...
— A grieving girl finds solace climbing her oak tree and discovers unexpected connection when a new teacher arrives who values her love of words.
— A mute girl who finds solace in nature befriends a mountain cat family, discovers she can communicate telepathically with them, and runs away from her divorcing parents who plan to...