ACARA Years 7-10
— While watering tomato plants, a boy watches water flood an ant colony and desperately tries to save drowning ants, reflecting on empathy and the value of small lives.
— A young violist struggles with harsh criticism and self-doubt before finding confidence through an orchestra audition, culminating in both musical success and a first date.
— A Union soldier at Gettysburg confronts the death of his best friend while wrestling with memories of his father and the meaning of war as 'a game of chess.'
— A Chinese-American girl visits her father's rural hometown and meets Qing, a cotton farmer whose dangerous work with American pesticides reveals the harsh realities behind cheap clothing.
— While searching for a book, a girl finds her sister's forgotten box of seashells, triggering a memory of an Easter trip where she lost a found conch shell but gained...
— A girl watches her mysterious neighbor Rochelle for years before discovering she's created an elaborate kingdom from stones, each with names and personalities.
— During the Pearl Harbor attack, a young Japanese-American woman searches desperately for her brother among the wreckage while confronting sudden hostility from her neighbors.
— A Black doctor arrives in 1960s rural Pennsylvania to take over a practice, faces racist vandalism and rejection, then gains acceptance after rescuing a white child from a well.
— A thirteen-year-old girl escapes the frustrations of seventh grade by galloping her horse Hobo, transforming their ride into a fantasy race at Churchill Downs.
— A boy trapped by his father's grief after his brother's drowning at sea finds freedom when an Angolan sailor arrives, offering passage to Zanzibar and a chance to reclaim the...