ACARA Years 7-10
— A teen guitarist battles stage fright through two performances, finding courage with help from family and an unexpected friend who gives her a purple guitar pick.
— Fragmented observations from a desk window capture April's blooming world through colors, birds, and flowers in stream-of-consciousness style.
— When her best friend Xavier disappears, teenage reporter Katie discovers his mother is a former spy and their chemistry teacher is the criminal who kidnapped him for revenge.
— A young dancer reflects on how ballet has shaped her emotional awareness and ability to express feelings that words cannot capture, celebrating dance as authentic human connection.
— A speaker seeks refuge in the art room, a space where they can exist without intrusion, where silence protects solitude and there's finally room for the self.
— A woman with failing memory navigates her empty house, discovers something terrible on her street, and forgets both the horror and that her husband is dead.
— Men with feathered heads descend to a berry bar, dollar in hand, seeking berries the size of bunny tails in this surreal prose poem.
— A brainy fifteen-year-old plans her escape from a witch-ruled kingdom after being offered an apprenticeship she can't accept, discovering she has magic when crossing the border.
— A girl says goodbye to her great-grandmother's apartment in Michigan, cataloging memories of family gatherings, walks to the lake, and the feeling of having a family home.
— A prose poem captures the sensory landscape of a neighborhood street through wind, racing cars, crunching leaves, gossip, and flickering streetlights.