For my wonderful mother and my missing puzzle piece, Angel. I couldn’t have done it without you.
For
- M. H.
and Eddie, my little men.
- N. H.Written by Makenzie Hice
Angel was the new kid at a new school. He felt shy and alone. He wasn’t sure how to make new friends.
One day while visiting the library, Angel scanned the colorful spines of books until one caught his eye: a bright orange book resting on the top shelf. That was the book he wanted!
He stood on his tippy toes and stretched out his arms, but he couldn’t reach it.
Then Angel noticed his taller classmate, Oliver, standing nearby. Surely, he could reach it! Angel took a deep breath, took a few steps, and bravely asked Oliver for help.
Oliver happily stood on his toes and stretched out his arms and reached for the bright orange book. But just as he grabbed hold of it, a white, folded piece of paper dropped out of the book . . .
And landed right on top of Angel’s head! Both boys giggled. They opened the piece of paper and read the words:
Above the words was a picture of a sun with a great big smile stretching from beam to beam. Angel wondered who made it.
“Let’s be detectives!” Oliver exclaimed. “We’ll find out who wrote it!”
Angel agreed, but he had no idea where to start. He didn’t know anyone at school, so he had no one to ask.
Oliver examined the note. “This handwriting looks like my friend Rose’s. Let’s ask her!”
At recess, they found Rose on the swings. When they showed her the note, she responded, “Let’s ask Bea! She loves to draw the sun!”
They found Bea rolling around in the soft grass. They rolled up beside her and showed her the note.
“Is this one of your creations?” Rose asked. Bea shook her head. “Let’s ask Miles. He dots his ‘I’s’ with hearts. It’s his specialty.”
So the group ran across the field to where Miles was skipping rope.
“I love drawing hearts, but these aren’t mine,” said Miles. The group was stumped. And recess was nearly over!
Suddenly a gust of wind swooped in, blowing the note out of Miles’ hands. The group chased after it as fast as they could, but the wind carried it over the playground and into the clouds.
Angel’s head dropped in defeat. Now we’ll never find out who wrote it, he thought to himself.
“What a bummer,” sighed Oliver. “We were having so much fun!”
“It’s okay! We can play again tomorrow,” said Bea.
So they started to think of new ideas for tomorrow.
And that’s when Angel had an idea of his own!
He didn’t have to find who wrote the note because he had found something even better! He had found friends! But he also remembered how it felt to be new, shy, and lonely. He wished for someone else to find a note, too.
So he declared, “Let’s make our own note!”
Angel’s friends loved the idea!
Rose wrote the message,
and Miles dotted the “I’s” with his signature hearts.
Bea drew the sun,
Angel folded the paper into the shape of a swan and placed it neatly in a bright yellow book.
Oliver added a bluebird flying over Bea’s radiant sun.
He then left it on a shelf, waiting to be found.
Angel has trouble making friends at his new school. When he finds a mysterious note in the library, his classmates join him on an adventure. But, will they find the author of the note?
A cheerful story about new friends and big mysteries. For sleuths ages 6 years and up.
