ACARA Years 7-10
— A young soldier who can see death timelines on people's palms sacrifices himself to save his best friend during a fortress battle, transferring his gift to her.
— A girl crosses a desert alone, finds shelter in a mysterious house with an old woman who gives her a glass dragon, then wakes in town unsure if the house...
— A lonely Indian boy finds friendship and belonging when a girl from his school discovers him at his secret pond refuge in Minnesota.
— A boat being pulled from water becomes a meditation on the narrow margins between opposing forces—connection and separation, life and death.
— A lonely Indian boy finds friendship and belonging when a girl from his school discovers him at his secret pond refuge, and they dance together in the frozen forest.
— A sixth-grader watches her imaginative pioneer game fall apart when popular kids mock it, realizing she and her friends are growing up and leaving childhood behind.
— During a military coup in Sierra Leone, a fifth-grader shelters with his embassy family, finding and symbolically discarding a bullet that represents the violence surrounding them.
— A five-year-old girl contemplates the nature of waiting after missing a horseback ride, discovering through conversation with her father that waiting gives life meaning.
— After surviving a plane crash, a boy struggles with trauma while his friend's family hobby store faces closure, both learning to face uncertain futures.
— A twelve-year-old enslaved girl learns to read in secret, escapes to Massachusetts via the Underground Railroad, and becomes a teacher, reuniting with her childhood friend years later.