The Creature in the Attic
Mystery and Adventure
The Creature in the Attic is a free, NAPLAN-aligned mystery and adventure writing resource for Australian primary students. It includes a story starter, complication, tiered vocabulary and scaffolds mapped to the Australian Curriculum (AC9).
It was late at night, and the house was quiet—too quiet. I had been playing with my toys when I heard a strange noise coming from the attic. It sounded like something was scratching and shifting, like it was trying to get out. I tried to ignore it, but the noise kept getting louder and closer, until it was impossible not to be curious. Holding my lantern tightly, I slowly made my way up the creaky wooden stairs to the attic. The air was cold and filled with dust. The moment I stepped into the dim light of the attic, I saw it—a tiny creature, peeking out from behind an old trunk. It looked as surprised as I was, and its big eyes blinked at me in the darkness.
The complication
- The creature seems friendly, but when it moves toward you, you notice it has sharp claws and teeth, making you wonder if it’s really as harmless as it looks.
- The attic starts to shake as if the creature's presence has triggered something hidden in the walls. Old trunks begin to rattle, and books fall from the shelves.
- Just as you’re about to approach the creature, you hear footsteps behind you. Someone else is in the attic, and they don’t look happy that you’ve found the creature.
What's in the full resource
- Complications
- Brainstorming Prompts
- Vocabulary Support
- Sentence Starters
- Dialogue Prompts
- Writing Challenges
- Sentence Variety
- Creative Twists
- Writing Checklist
- Reflective Questions
- Collaborative Writing Ideas
- Printable teacher and student PDFs
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