Hooked on a Book

Jenna (age 10)

Pine Bush Elementary

“Get down here,” Mom says, “it’s time for dinner!”

“Just as soon as I finish this chapter,” I say.  Once again I was reading a good book and could not stop.  I had finished the chapter and was debating if I should go to the next one.  The book was called To the Black Hole.  The next chapter was called “Looking In”.

“Get down here now!” Mom yelled.  Quickly, I slammed in the bookmark and ran down the stairs to see what was for dinner.  I was starving.  It was a special dinner.  It was: spaghetti and meatballs. (You might be thinking spaghetti and meatballs are not a special dinner, but with two sisters both in softball and me too, most dinners on school nights are take-out.)

Monday I caught the bus with Andy, my best friend.  I was reading on the bus.  I was so tired, I fell asleep.  In my dream, I woke up and I was running really fast.  I looked up and I saw a black sky. (That’s why I could barely see where I was running.)  I passed lots of safari animals.  They started following me.  I ran faster.  I looked back to see if they were still there.  They were gone!  This was strange.  “Where am I?” I said out loud.

“You are in a book called The Black Hole,” a tree said.

All of a sudden I stopped.  I was panicking.  “How do I get out?” 

“Find a black hole and jump in.”

“How do I find the hole?” As I remembered when I was running I was dodging lots of holes.  “That should be easy,” I mumbled.

So, I found a hole and jumped in, I was still in the book. “What hole is it?” I asked the tree. 

“The one with the ‘X’ next to it.  O.K.  I searched for two full days.  I could have really used my Mom’s spaghetti and meatballs then.  Finally I found the black hole and jumped in and crossed my fingers.

I opened my eyes and we were just stopping at my school.  I looked around, everyone looked fine.  Good thing it was a dream, I think.  Maybe I should ask Andy if he was there too.  This is going to be one interesting day!