ACARA Years 3-6

Story·Cole Miller, age 11 — A young cellist faces performance anxiety before a school concert, finding that the music transforms his fear into something better than summer itself.

Story·Katya B. Schwenk, age 11 — A girl finds an abandoned black lab in the woods with a note asking someone to care for him, then encounters him a year later, happy with a new family.

Story·Mary Woods, age 11 — A sparrow clan leader, haunted by his mate's death, flees when his son faces the same predator—but the son survives to lead the clan home while the father finds healing...

Story·Emmy J. X. Wong, age 12 — A seventh-grader with a lifelong crush on her neighbor plans to reveal her feelings at the Valentine's dance, but gets the flu and misses it—until a midnight mailbox exchange changes...

Poetry·Laurel Gibson, age 12 — A single yellow leaf spirals down in an autumn forest, becoming a bright spot of color among the brown fallen leaves on a cloudy day.

Story·Emma T. Capps, age 12 — A girl hides in her favorite tree before a dreaded doctor's visit, finding solace in the branches and sharing a poem that no one else appreciated.

Story·Daniel KulahliOglu, age 12 — A fourth-grader arrives at school excited to perform in a play, only to learn his beloved science teacher has died. He finds solace feeding the classroom lizards one last time.

Story·Mac Vogelsang, age 12 — After his grandfather's death, a boy inherits a lucky penny passed down through generations, only to have bullies steal and throw it in a lake.

Story·Hannah Scarborough, age 10 — When her best friend moves away, a girl who loves marine biology finds unexpected comfort in yellow daffodils floating in the ocean.

Poetry·Devorah Malka Reisner, age 12 — A new student sits alone watching unfamiliar faces until a red-haired girl's kind note transforms isolation into the beginning of friendship.