ACARA Years 7-10

Poetry·Brooke Hemingway, age 13 — A wolf leads its pack into a moonlit clearing where the forest holds its breath and the world sparkles with otherworldly light.

Story·Brigid Armbrust, age 13 — Emma struggles with moving to Maine until a wise classmate teaches her that home isn't a place but something you carry with you, transforming dirt into meaning.

Story·Stiles Fraser White, age 12 — A new student at school faces the reigning chess champion, with social acceptance hanging in the balance of their match.

Poetry·Caroline Smyth, age 12 — A young writer explores the paradox of constant transformation and fixed identity, finding that despite daily reinvention, the same eyes witness it all.

Story·Jem Burch, age 13 — During a rare July rainstorm in California, two friends watch from the window, chase the storm to the grocery store, and discover joy in shared wonder.

Story·Sandra Detweiler, age 13 — A grieving girl meets a blind pianist after saving her from a bicycle collision, discovering friendship and music can pierce through darkness.

Story·Christina Suh, age 12 — A privileged Southern girl discovers her family's enslaved girl Susan attempting to escape and, after hearing Susan's story, helps her flee north to freedom.

Poetry·Norah Brady, age 13 — Night sounds — cricket drone, rain on gutters, distant conversations — become a symphony as the world falls into sleep.

Story·Will Stroud — A young hunter describes his first archery kill, from the three-hour wait in a tree stand to the moment the deer falls, rendered in precise sensory detail.

Poetry·Ellanora Lerner, age 13 — A teenager finds solitude at abandoned railroad tracks, contemplating how nature reclaims human progress and feeling the ghost of trains that once passed.