“That’s fine!” Charlotte said a little too enthusiastically. Charlotte raced to shelf 729. It took her a little while, but she found the book she was looking for. It was thirteen pages long, so Charlotte could see why Emma didn’t think it was useful. Luckily, Charlotte had only opened to the first page, so she didn’t have to worry about there not being enough pages. She opened to page one, and read the book from there. Then, she flipped to page one again, and left the library in search of the path of blue pebbles. As it turned out, the path of blue pebbles was not that hard to find because they were s blue as the cloudless sky that hung over the little town Charlotte was stuck in. She followed the pebbles to a beautiful river. “Keyfly!” Charlotte exclaimed as jumped up and down and threw the book into the water. As Mr. Dahl had said, her surroundings disappeared in a puff of purple smoke. Back at home, Charlotte’s mother was making dinner. “What did you do today, honey? Did you find anything interesting?” Her mother asked. “You don’t even know the half of it!” Charlotte laughed. MJ and Me By Maia S.M., Grade 3 It was a rainy morning and I was walking down Yellow Brick St., shivering. Lightning filled the stormy sky. It was wet, cold, and the street was deserted, so I tried to find a shop where I could stay warm. The first one I came across was called Antique80s and I stepped inside with relief. As the sign advertised, the store was filled with antiques from the 80s. I was intrigued by all the vintage objects I had never seen before. The phones looked like bricks and had long antennas, unlike the ones in my generation. Something caught my eye in the corner: records. I loved music. I browsed through them and saw many bands I’d never heard of. Some had photos of women with epic mullets, while others had cool-looking men with short, black moustaches. I didn’t recognize any of them. However, at the very back of the pile, I saw one by the only singer I could identify, Michael Jackson. I was a big fan of his. I decided to buy it. I grabbed the record carefully, and brought it to the cashier. The long-bearded cashier took my money, while saying some words that puzzled me. “Are you sure you want this album?” he asked. “Yes, of course. Why do you ask?” “There have been rumors this record was created by Michael Jackson’s friend, who people think was magical. Whoever owns this record is said to go on an adventure.” “What’s the adventure?” “You shall see.” I exited Antique80s with my record, and was shocked to see that the sun was shining and the streets were crowded, unlike a few minutes earlier. The weather could not have changed so quickly, unless I was hallucinating. I looked behind me to see if Antique80s was still there, but now it was a movie rental store called Blockbuster. I looked through the window and saw shelves of movies. I was baffled, and after a few minutes realized I had time traveled to the 80s. “This must be the adventure the man mentioned, ” I said to myself. I roamed the streets and observed all the shops. After a few minutes, I stopped with curiosity to see a crowd huddled around a man who had curly, black hair and wore fancy clothing. In his hand he held a microphone. Everybody around him was shouting, “Sing, sing!” and begging to get his autograph. I came closer and screamed the same words to blend in. I asked some people THE CLARION
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