A Whole New World

Once upon a time, there lived a curious little girl; her name was Delaney. She lived in Nebraska with her parents, and she was an only child. Delaney didn’t like to read, so it was always a struggle to finish her reading homework.

Delaney once again came home from school to finish her reading homework. She glumly sat down at her desk, took out her book and tried to concentrate. Five minutes later, she had only read two pages. Her mom came to her and said,

“Delaney do you need help?”

Delaney said, “Yes,” like always, and so her mom sat down to help her. She finally finished her “boring” homework.

“Delaney,” said her mother then, “come downstairs. Your father and I want to talk with you.”

“Honey, we are moving to New Hampshire” said her father.

“What! I don’t want to move! I got all my friends here. I can’t leave them!” exclaimed Delaney.

“We leave next week; it has already been arranged,” said her mother.

A week later, they had packed everything in a truck except the clothes. Those went in the car. At 9:00 a.m., they set off to New Hampshire. From Sidney, Nebraska they drove to St. Joseph, Missouri, where they stopped to sleep. The next stop was in Muncie, Indiana, and after that, they finally reached Concord, New Hampshire. Three days after leaving Nebraska, they arrived at a huge house.

“Wow, this place is huge! Is this our new house, mom?” asked Delaney.

“Yes,” said her mother.

At once, Delaney set off to explore the building. When she entered, there was a staircase leading upstairs. There was another one under it leading downstairs. On the main floor were the kitchen and the spacious living room. First, Delaney went to the basement, where she found the garage. There wasn’t anything much interesting there, just a storage room and another room that she thought her mom would use as an office, or her dad would use as a workshop, since he was a carpenter. She raced upstairs to the kitchen and then up to the next floor. There she found three large rooms, each with a big bathroom and closet. This, she thought, would be the guest rooms, if we have any guests. Then she went down the hallway, where she found the laundry and an empty room that could be another living room. At the end of the hallway, there was another staircase leading to the third floor. There she found just two rooms, also with a bathroom each and a laundry shoot. Finally, she found a rather small door that led to the attic. She decided to explore it later with a flashlight.

The next day, she woke up with a strange feeling. The house didn’t feel like home yet. But she knew that when she came back from school, some things would be in its place. And so it was; she came home from school and the only thing out of order was some empty boxes outside, and half of the house unpacked. Her mom asked,

“Hello, how was your day at school?”

“It was ok, I guess. I was just lonely,” said Delaney. “Mom, I’m going to do my homework,” Delaney said, just to get out of the subject of school. She was in a rush to see the attic also. For homework, she read about castles and how they had secret doors with hidden treasure behind them. This she did like to read, for Delaney was a curious girl who liked adventures. After she finished, a great idea came to her. What if, by some chance, there is a secret room in the attic? That would be cool! So, with this in her mind, she raced to the attic with a flashlight in her hand. At first, she began tapping the walls to hear any hollow sounds: nothing. Then she checked the floor for any trapdoors. Then, with a ladder, she carefully checked the ceiling. Nothing. Next, she tried to feel for any cracks; she checked the ceiling first, since she was already on the ladder, then the floor, and after that the walls.

Suddenly she did feel a crack! Delaney examined it carefully with her flashlight. It was a door in the corner of the room. She looked up and down on both sides of the door. Nearby she found a string, and she decided to pull it. Most people wouldn’t do it, fearing it would be a trap, but Delaney didn’t fear a thing. The door opened, and what she found was unexpected: a stairway going down. She thought, it’s probably a secret exit or entrance.

The stairs seemed to go further down than the basement. When she finally reached the bottom, she found a library! With a big frown on her face she wailed,

“A library! This is the worst secret I have ever found. I guess I’ll look just to see what type of books there are.” She walked and walked and walked for what seemed like miles. She passed a section with Spanish books, then a French section, German, Arabic, Italian, and all the languages of the world. When she got tired of walking, she went back to the English section. On the first shelf, she could see Anne of Green Gables, Sherlock Holmes, The Chronicles of Narnia, and all the other books of the world.

In the end, she decided to skim through the book Wonder. The moment she opened the book, a whole new world literally came out. The characters came to life and moved and talked: it was like a read-along movie! Delaney walked through the scene and half-heard, half-read what the characters were saying. When Delaney closed the book, everything stopped and disappeared. She opened the book again and the scene continued where it left off. She tried another book, Chronicles of Narnia, and everything was just as the author had described. Then she picked up a book about WW2 and she could feel the excitement go around her as if she were really in the scene. The battle ships were around her, and she could hear the waves rushing up and down as they passed by. She heard the planes up in the sky and felt the breeze fly by as they passed.

Later, she realized that it was 7:30 and rushed upstairs. She had spent over an hour reading the books! Over time, she opened many of the books in the secret library. Delaney even learned some new languages! She kept the place a secret from everyone, and she also started reading normal books. She enjoyed them just like the other special ones. Delaney had found a whole new world.