Chapter 1

I looked up from where I was hiding behind the

bushes. He was gone. The monster was gone.

Okay, so he wasn’t a monster, but he was close. His

name was Maddox Matthews, and he was the biggest,

meanest, boy in the second grade.

I ran from my hiding spot to the school and into my

classroom. There, my teacher, Mr. Tristan, was taking

attendance. As I got to my seat, he called my name.

“Adelaide Parks?” he asked.

“Here!” I said, raising my hand. He nodded and

continued to call out students names.

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As I reached in my backpack to grab my books, I

heard it. Mr. Tristan called the monster’s name. I opened

my book and tried to hide behind it, but it didn’t help. He

saw me. It saw me.

I didn’t pay very much attention after that. But I never

paid very much attention in class. Everyday, I would sit

there and wait for Mr. Tristan to tell us it was recess and I

would run out of the room before the monster could catch

me. I ran as fast as I could from the classroom that day.

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Chapter 2

That was the day I went to the library. I don’t really

know why. I mean, I didn’t even like to read!

But I went in there anyway. Trying not to see the

librarian, I went toward the back of the library. However, I

wasn’t that lucky.

There she was putting books back on the bookshelf.

Ms. Maxwell turned her head and smiled down at me when

she noticed that I was there.

“Hello there, Adelaide,” she said in a sweet voice as

she fixed her glasses.

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“Hello Ms. Maxwell,” I said looking down at my

shoes. When I looked back up at her, she was holding out a

book to me.

“I think you should read this book Adelaide. I feel

like you would really enjoy it,” she said, handing the book

to me.

Enjoy it. It felt like she was making me take it and

that certainly would not make me enjoy it. But I smiled at

her and held the book close to myself. “Thank you,” I

whispered to her. I then heard other students walking in the

hall. That meant recess was over.

I turned to look out the library window. When I

turned back to say goodbye to Ms. Maxwell, however, she

was gone.

Shaking my head, I ran back to class. As I got to my

seat, I opened my backpack and shoved the book inside,

forgetting about it for the rest of the day.

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Chapter 3

When school ended that day, I waited until all of the

other students were gone before I left the building. I didn’t

want to run into the monster. Not twice in the same day.

As I walked around a corner, I bumped into something

big and hard. Oh no, I thought to myself. The monster. I

looked up, biting my lip.

“Well, well, well,” it said smiling down at me with an

evil look in his eyes. “If it isn’t the pipsqueak princess,” he

said in a mean way. I looked down at my feet, holding on

tight to the straps of my backpack. “What do you have for

me today pipsqueak? What’s that?” he asked.

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I looked to where he was pointing. He had noticed my

blue gloves that were hanging out of my coat pocket.

“They’re my gloves,” I said in a whisper.

“Well,” he started, “Now they’re mine.” He grabbed

them from my pocket and shoved them deep into his

backpack. My grandma had gotten those for me. I felt

myself starting to cry and this made him start to laugh.

I ran away from him as fast as I could toward home. I

even tripped and fell a few times. The third time I fell, I

scraped my knees and I saw blood coming through my

tights.

By the time I got to my house, I had stopped crying

but my knees hurt. I saw my mom carrying my little

brother, Ethan, outside. At first, she was only walking

toward me but when she noticed my tights, she started

running over.

“Adelaide, what happened?” she asked me.

“I tripped and fell mommy. I’m sorry,” I said softly.

She sighed and shook her head. “Alright, let’s get you

cleaned up.” She led me inside the house and into the

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bathroom. Once she had put the band aids on my knees, she

told me to go to my room.

When I went inside my room, I sat down on my pile of

pillows in my closet and started to look through my

backpack.

That was when I found it. The book Ms. Maxwell

gave to me. I grabbed it and looked at the cover. There

weren’t any pictures, just a title in blue words. A Fairy’s

Tale. For whatever reason, I may never know, I opened

that book. And when I looked around next, I wasn’t in my

room anymore.

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Chapter 4

As I looked around, I became more and more scared.

Where was I? Why wasn’t I at home? But the more I

looked around, the more I realized the beauty of where I

was. It looked like a fairy tale. Everything was colorful

and bright. There was a castle and rainbows and unicorns.

I looked around, amazed by what I was seeing. It was

then that I noticed her. A fairy. A fairy sitting right there,

staring at me.

“We’ve been waiting for you a very long time

princess,” she said in the sweetest voice I had ever heard.

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I looked around to figure out who she was talking to,

but there was nobody else there but us. Was she talking to

me? She couldn’t have been talking to me.

“Princess Adelaide?” she asked, pulling me from my

thoughts. So she was talking to me! “You seem to be

confused. You see, we are inside of your story book. And

my name is Faya. I guard this book. Right now, we are

inside of the princess fairy tale. In this book, you are able

to do whatever you wish.”

“I am?” I asked, surprised by what I was hearing. I

could control the story?

“Yes princess. And for every adventure and fairy tale

that you are apart of, I will be there, watching over you.”

She then smiled at me.

Just as I was about to say something, I heard my name

being called from outside of the book. It was my mother. I

felt myself moving from the story, and the next thing I

knew, I was back in my room.

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Chapter 5

I looked down at the now shut story book in shock. I

was in the story! And I could control what happened there!

It was then that I heard my mother calling for me.

“Adelaide, come down for dinner! Do not make me come

up there and get you!” she yelled to me.

Still holding the book, I stood up to leave but then

decided to keep the book in my room. I put it back into my

backpack and ran down the stairs.

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When I got to the dining room, I noticed my dad still

wasn’t home from work yet. That meant it was just my

mother, Ethan, and I for dinner. Great…

I sat down in my regular seat and waited for my

mother to come in from the kitchen. When she came in, I

tried to tell her about what happened but she didn’t believe

me and thought I was making it all up. Then she told me to

take a bath and go to bed.

After I got finished with my bath, I got dressed in my

PJs. However, when I asked my mom to come tuck me in,

she said she was too busy getting Ethan to sleep to come

tuck me in tonight. I ended up having to tuck myself in and

fell asleep crying.

I walked to school by myself the next morning, and,

for once, I didn’t run into the monster. I actually was able

to make it into the class room easily instead of being one of

the last ones to get there.

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I sat down at my desk and waited for class to start.

But even when it did, the monster never came. It was one

of the most peaceful classes I have ever sat through.

When it was time for recess, I went to the library

again. I found a comfortable seat and took the book out of

my backpack. Opening it, I smiled as I saw the library

transforming into another adventure.

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Chapter 6

Looking around, this time I realized that I wasn’t in a

regular fairy tale. This time, there were super heroes! Even

I was dressed as a super hero!

Faya flew over to me and smiled, “Princess Adelaide!

We’re in the super hero fairy tale today. What do you

think?”

“It’s amazing,” I said, looking all around me.

“How about we fly around to get a better look?” Faya

asked.

“But I can’t fly.”

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“Why of course you can! You are a super hero too,”

she told me. Then she took my hand and we rose into the

air. “And while we fly around, how about I tell you how

this book came to be.”

I barely heard her though. I was too busy looking at

everything. There were so many super heroes. One girl

became invisible. I even saw a boy lift a car over his head.

It was all so magical!

It sounded like Faya was starting to get annoyed that I

wasn’t listening. “Princess, please pay attention,” but that

was all she was able to say because I was suddenly pulled

out of the story when I felt a tap on my shoulder.

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Chapter 7

When the book shut, I realized that I was back in the

library. I sighed and turned, about to yell at the person who

tapped me on the shoulder. I saw that it was Ms. Maxwell

standing behind me.

“I see you’re enjoying the book that I picked out for

you, Adelaide,” she said with a smile that made me think

she knew something. I nodded to see what else she would

say. “It really pulls you into the story, doesn’t it?” she

asked. “Almost like you are actually there.”

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She knew! She knew about the book! But just as I was

about to ask her what she knew, the halls started to get

loud.

“Recess must be over,” she said with another smile.

“Go on back to class now.” And then she forced me out of

the library.

I walked back to class, hugging my book tightly,

trying to figure out what had just happened.

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Chapter 8

I got to my seat just before Mr. Tristan came into the

room. As he started the next math lesson for the day, I

looked around the room at my classmates. The girl that sat

in the far corner looked familiar. Actually, she looked just

like the girl in the story that had become invisible.

I shook my head. No, I thought, it can’t be. But then I

saw a boy that sat at a desk toward the front of the room.

He was the one that had lifted the car over his head! So my

classmates were in my book! Or were they? I thought

about this for the rest of the day.

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As I started my walk home from school, I hoped I

wouldn’t have to worry about the monster. But I wasn’t

that lucky. There he was, standing near his normal corner.

I hid against the wall before darting into the park so he

wouldn’t get me.

I ran until I got to the playground. I looked around

until I found the perfect hiding spot. It was in a plastic

tunnel.

Once I had crawled safely inside, I sat down, hugging

my backpack to my chest. Then I reached inside and pulled

out the story book. Smiling, I opened it and was suddenly

back in my magical world.

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Chapter 9

When I first arrived in the story, everything seemed

normal. This time the adventure was a pirate fairy tale! I

was even wearing an eye patch! Everyone around me

looked scruffy and kinda mean. It was all so exciting!

However, after looking around for a while, I noticed

that Faya wasn’t there. I looked all over the boat I was on,

but she was no where to be found. Eventually, I had to get

off of the boat because it was clear that Faya was not on

board.

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As I walked past several different pirate ships, I saw

tons of pirates. But the last one I passed scared me. For it

held something evil. The monster was the captain of the

ship!

When I realized that it was him, I bent down and

started crawling away from the ship, hoping he wouldn’t

see me. After I was far enough away, I stood up and started

running for town. I didn’t stop running until I got there.

When I was walking around, I finally saw Faya sitting on a

park bench.

I ran over to her. “Why didn’t you tell me the monster

would be here? I never would have come here if I had

known!” I told her.

Faya looked at me and sighed. “Princess Adelaide,

when you first came into this story book, I said that you

were in control of the story. This has not changed. You

are the one that brought the ‘monster’ here. Not I,” she

said in a very calm way. “What happens here is based on

what happens to you in your everyday life.”

I was about to tell her that she should have told me

that, and if she had, I wouldn’t have come here as often.

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But I didn’t have the chance because I being was pulled out

of the story.

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Chapter 10

As the book snapped shut, I looked next to me to see

who had closed it.

“Ethan!” I yelled to my little brother. “What are you

doing here?” I asked, putting my book away in my

backpack.

I crawled out of the tunnel and he followed me. It was

then that I saw my mother sitting on a park bench. I

grabbed Ethan’s hand and we walked over to her.

“Adelaide? What are you doing here?” she asked,

picking Ethan up.

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“I decided to come here after school,” I said quietly.

“And Ethan found me in the tunnel.”

“Oh, well, let’s all go home together then,” she said,

standing up from the park bench. She took my hand and

we walked back toward home.

As soon as we got inside, I ran upstairs to my room. I

got the story book out of my backpack. I looked at the

cover one more time before putting it on the bookshelf. I

could not read that story if the monster was in there. So I

left it on the shelf and went downstairs for dinner.

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Chapter 11

It took me another week before I even looked at the

story book again. I came home from school and walked

straight to my room. At first, I didn’t even look at the

bookshelf; I just sat down on my bed.

I was in the middle of doing my homework when

suddenly I looked over to make sure that the story book

was still there. But I didn’t see its leather binding. It was

gone!

I ran over to the bookshelf and pulled everything off,

trying to find the book, but it wasn’t there! Going as

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quickly as I could, I ran downstairs, trying to find it. I went

into every room, but I still didn’t see it.

The last room I checked was the living room. It was a

good thing that I did! Because sitting there with my book

was Ethan, chewing on the corner!

I ran over to him and struggled to pull it from his

grasp. “Ethan, that’s mine!” I yelled, trying to get it from

him. Eventually, I was able to get it free.

When he started crying, I ran back upstairs to my

room. I wiped the cover of my book off and looked at it.

Sighing, I put it in my backpack for the first time in a week.

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Chapter 12

During school the next day, the monster didn’t bother

me all morning. It seemed as though he had found a new

target to pick on. Maybe, I thought, I won’t have to worry

about him anymore.

When recess started, I didn’t worry about getting past

the bully for once. I grabbed my backpack and took my

time leaving the room. Instead of going to the library, I

went outside to the playground.

After I got outside, I looked around for a good place to

read in peace. It was then that I saw the perfect tree to sit

under. It was far enough from the playground that it would

26

be quiet. The spot also had the perfect amount of sunshine

shining on it.

I headed toward that spot without anyone noticing me

walk away. When I got there, I looked around before

opening my backpack. I took out the book and opened it,

putting me into yet another adventure.

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Chapter 13

Getting there, I was prepared for some new and

magical adventure, but that was not what I saw at all.

Instead, I saw a mixture between my last pirate adventure

and some crazy space adventure. Aliens were dressed as

pirates and the pirate ships were flying in space! It was like

the book was stuck between two stories.

After the shock faded away, I looked around for Faya.

When I finally saw her, she looked sad and was carrying a

bag. I went over to her as quickly as I could while moving

through outer space.

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“Faya!” I said. “What is going on here? Why are the

two stories combined?” I asked her. Surely she would know

why it was doing this and be able to help fix it.

“Oh,” she said sadly. “Hello Princess Adelaide. It

appears as though our beloved book is losing its magic

more and more everyday.”

“Losing its magic? How can it be losing its magic?

And where are you going? I thought you said you would

always be in the story. You can’t just leave!”

“Princess, if there is no more magic, I cannot simply

stay here. If I do, I will lose my powers. Without my

powers, I can’t be safe and protect myself, let alone this

book,” she explained. “Perhaps the book is telling us it is

time to stop.”

“But it can’t just stop! I need this book,” I yelled at

her.

“Goodbye Princess Adelaide.” And with that, she flew

away with her bag over her shoulder.

When she was out of sight, I stood there for a moment,

wondering how I could save this wonderful book. But

29

before I came up with a solution, something pulled me out

of the story.

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Chapter 14

I bumped back into the tree I was leaning on when the

book was forced shut. I looked up and there was the

monster, followed by all of his little monster friends. They

followed him around wherever he went.

Shoving my book into my backpack, I stood up and

ran away from them as fast as I could without even closing

it. My backpack suddenly felt lighter after a moment of

running, but I didn’t stop to look.

31

When the day ended, I waited until everyone had left

the classroom before I even moved from my seat. I

grabbed my backpack and looked inside to make sure that

the book was in there. Only it wasn’t. The book was gone!

Oh NO! Which meant the monster had it!

I ran outside and hid while the monster and his gang

sat under the tree that I had been reading under during

recess. The monster was staring down at the cover of the

book.

“Maddox, just put the book down,” said his best

friend, Ryan.

“Yeah. Why do you even want it?” asked Charlie.

“The pipsqueak isn’t that important,” said Ed.

“Just go away,” said the monster. And they did.

Everyone always did what the monster said, even if they

were adults.

Once they were gone, he opened the book and froze.

He was in my fairy tale world!

I ran over to where he was sitting and took the book

from his hands. I started to read and before I knew what

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was going on, I was suddenly taken back into my fairy tale

world.

33

Chapter 15

I must be having a nightmare, I thought when I first

entered the story. This can’t be my world. But it was. I

didn’t want to admit it, even though I knew which fairy tale

we were in.

It was the first world I had been in when I started

reading this book. But everything was destroyed. The

castle was torn apart and all of the magical creatures were

hiding. My special place was ruined. It wasn’t mine

anymore. It was his.

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I walked around, looking for someone to help me fight

the monster. Everyone was gone though. Faya had left and

everyone else was too afraid to leave their hiding spots.

So it was up to me. I had to get him out of the book.

But how? How will I remove him from the story?

For the entire time I had been reading the book, there

had never been anyone else to enter it while I was in there

too. Maybe if we touched, it would cause us both to be

taken from the story.

It was then that I saw him, kicking and destroying a

fairy town. His back was to me. This was the perfect time.

I went up behind him, and without him noticing, I touched

his shoulders. This touch, as simple as it was, pulled us

both from the story.

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Chapter 16

Coming from the story, we both fell in opposite

directions. It took me a moment to understand what I

needed to do. But when I heard him move, I jumped up

and grabbed the book.

The monster didn’t like that, so he stood up and tried

to take the book from me. “It’s my book now,” he yelled at

me.

“No!” I cried back, tears now on my face. “You can’t

have it!”

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Then he pushed me. I let go of the book as I fell

backward. When I looked up, he held the book over my

head and started tearing out all of the pages.

By the time he left, he had torn out every page. They

were all on the ground. And the cover of the book was

ripped.

I started crying, not sure what to do. And that was

how Ms. Maxwell found me. She helped me up and led me

into the library.

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Chapter 17

For awhile, we just sat together in the library. Neither

of us talked. We just sat there. Ms. Maxwell was the first

one to speak.

“That book has been around for a long time, you

know, Adelaide. Long before you found it,” she said to me

in a sweet way.

All I could do was nod. I wasn’t ready to accept that

the book was gone. That meant I would never go into the

magical worlds ever again and I would never see Faya

again.

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“I was just about your age when I found that book,”

she told me. I looked up at her in shock. She had been

inside of the book too?

“It was a magical place,” she said with a smile. “They

called me a princess and I was able to do whatever I wanted

there. I read that book for a very long time. But Adelaide,

those stories won’t help you with your problems. You

must be able to fight for yourself.”

Fight for myself? “I can’t fight the monster myself,” I

whispered to her.

“How you fight him is up to you. But you can’t hide

behind things forever,” she said, like she had done the same

thing. “Come on. Let me walk you home.” Then we left

the library.

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Chapter 18

Once I was home, I went upstairs to my room to think

about what Ms. Maxwell had said. I only felt powerful

when I had the book. It wasn’t like I could make another

copy of it… Could I?

Someone had to have created the first copy. Why

couldn’t I be the one to make the next one? It couldn’t be

that difficult. So I sat down and started writing.

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After a few weeks, I finally finished writing the book.

I still hadn’t tried to go inside of the book yet. I wanted to

try it at school in the library.

When recess first started, I ran to the library and

looked around for Ms. Maxwell. There she was, just like

the day she gave me the book. She was putting books back

onto the shelves.

I went over to my regular seat and sat down. I could

only hope that it would work. There was no way to be sure

that it would.

Closing my eyes, I opened the book. But when I

opened my eyes, I was still in the library. Sighing, I stood

up and placed the book on a shelf. Still upset, I grabbed

another book to read. I sat back down in my seat and

opened the new book.

Just as I did, a first grader name Alena came into the

library and went toward the shelf where I put my book.

When she came across it, she pulled it out and sat down in

a seat across from me. She read the title and opened the

book. But as soon as she opened it, she froze. She froze the

41

same way that we all did when we were transported into the

story.

So my book did work! A huge smile came onto my

face. I stood up and grabbed the book I was reading. I left

the library, knowing that I didn’t need my fairy tale book

anymore.

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