Wednesday, September 28, 2005

A Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, in a small town in Upstate NY lived a girl named Courtney. Courtney loved to read and her mother kindly took her to the library every week. One day she read a book that she loved. It was a book about a girl who goes to the big city to live with her aunt and starts taking dance lessons. The girl falls in love with dance and becomes really good. Courtney was so enchanted by this book that she read it over and over. Eventually, she started to dance as well. (That's a different story, though.)

Well, the years passed (as they do) and Courtney didn't read the book, but still thought very fondly about it. She wanted to read it again when she grew up, but couldn't remember the title or the author. All she had was a memory.

Even more years passed and Courtney became a librarian. She cared for the books in her library and tried to encourage others to read. She welcomed help from the town as she ran her library. One day, one of the mothers of a family at the school said she wanted to donate books to the library. Courtney was very happy and took the books. One day in September when the sun was shining, Courtney was at school early. No one else was there and because it was quiet she opened the bag of donated books. The very first book on the top of the pile was the book she remembered from her childhood! She recognized the cover as soon as she saw it! Not only that, when Courtney opened the book, it was the same one she used to read as a little girl. The exact same copy discarded from the library, bought by this family, then donated to the school! Courtney was immediately filled with joy and read the book again right away. She lived happily ever after reading Jennifer Dances over and over again. The end.

Now, isn't that a happy story?