Small Wonders · complete story

The Library That Forgot Down

Tedray · Questions & problem solving

At the treehouse library, everything knew where to sit. The cushions sat on the floor. The teapot sat on a tray. The books sat on the ceiling. ‘Ah,’ said Owl Auntie, ‘the books have forgotten down again.’

Rafi put on his glasses and looked up. A dragon story fluttered beside a cookbook. Leela waved from a cushion. ‘Come down, stories!’ A blue book flapped open. All the pages were blank. ‘They have forgotten their words too!’ she cried.

Owl Auntie shook her head. ‘We won’t know until we look closely.’ She had a rule for floating books: feet on the floor, grown-up help, and no ladders. Rafi suggested catching a book in a big basket. Leela suggested telling the books a story. They decided to try both ideas, one at a time.

The basket was too short. The books drifted away from it. ‘That tells us something,’ said Rafi. ‘They follow the breeze.’ Owl Auntie opened a low window just a little. Leela tied a soft ribbon to a paper kite. Standing safely on the rug, they sent it into the gentle current. A blue book settled against the kite and floated down with it.

Leela opened the book. It was still blank. Then Rafi noticed an upside-down bookmark. He turned the book around. On the other side of each folded page, tiny words were tucked into pictures. ‘It’s a picture puzzle book!’ he said. ‘It didn’t lose its words. We were looking at the backs.’

Together they solved the first puzzle. A cup, a cake and a candle made a birthday story. Leela told it aloud, adding an elephant who brought a very small present. The books above rustled. Slowly they began to drift toward her voice.

Owl Auntie laid cushions beneath the shelf and guided each floating book down with the kite. The last book landed with a polite plop. On its cover was an owl wearing slippers. ‘That one is about me,’ she said. ‘It always comes home for tea.’

Rafi drew a sign for the window: a kite, a cushion and a question mark. Leela drew a different sign: a floating book wearing a seat belt. Owl Auntie laughed so hard that her spectacles slid down her beak. The next week, the books stayed on their shelves. The teapot, however, had discovered up.