ACARA Years 7-10

Story·Adara Robbins, age 13 — A teenage athlete returns to an empty soccer field at night, confronting memories of rejection and rediscovering her love for the game through solitary practice.

Story·Natalia M. Thompson, age 13 — In Tehran, a teenage girl joins her mother's secret political group that meets under the guise of Friday tea gatherings while the men are at prayer.

Story·Charlie Patten, age 13 — Three friends meet to swim at night but Martin has a premonition dream where a sea creature attacks his friends, waking just as they arrive for real.

Story·Rachel Stanley, age 13 — A young diver conquers her fear of the 10-meter platform, discovering the exhilaration of flight in the moment she lets herself fall.

Story·Veronica Engler, age 13 — A dragon awaits knights coming to slay her, remembering her murdered family. When she recognizes her brother's killer, she chooses mercy over revenge before dying.

Story·Katherine Roth, age 13 — A girl looking after a neighbor's dog discovers the dog has escaped to find their missing cat, injured but alive in the woods after a snowstorm.

Story·Christy Joy Frost, age 13 — A girl running her family's B&B feels isolated until an author guest shows her that her world contains many worlds, prompting her to reach out to a stranger.

Story·Natalia M. Thompson, age 13 — A daughter asks permission for honors classes and her mother reveals regrets about marrying early instead of pursuing education, passing both blessing and burden to the next generation.

Story·Parth Ravel, age 12 — A space crew lands on planet AE-51 to establish a colony, only to discover an identical crashed ship with their same ID number and a centuries-old nametag bearing the navigator's...

Story·Gus Ruchman, age 12 — After a tsunami kills his family, an eleven-year-old Muslim boy survives with a Hindu man who teaches him that faith transcends religious boundaries before dying in his arms.