Pip and the Rolling Bookmark

Poppy wanted to sit in the Cosy Corner more than anything, but first she had to find her bookmark.

Poppy was the librarian. The Cosy Corner was her favourite place in the whole library. It had a squashy green beanbag, a lamp like a yellow moon, and a window that looked out at a duck pond.

Every afternoon, Poppy sat there with one picture book. And every afternoon, she put in her red bookmark to keep the page.

Today the bookmark was gone.

"Where are you, little bookmark?" said Poppy. She looked under the beanbag. She looked behind the lamp. She found one sock and a biscuit crumb, but no bookmark.

Then she heard a soft sound. Tick-tick-tick.

A tiny red thing was rolling across the floor. It was her bookmark, curled up like a scroll! Poppy bent down to catch it. It rolled away. She tiptoed after it. It rolled away again, right under the bookshelf.

"Come back!" said Poppy.

She tried again, quicker. Whoosh! The bookmark rolled off, and a small brown mouse popped out from the shelf after it.

"Oh!" said Poppy. "Hello."

"Hello," squeaked the mouse. "I am only here for the crumbs." And he nibbled the biscuit crumb and went back to his hole. He did not help one bit.

Poppy sat down on the beanbag to think. Phoomf, went the beanbag, and the whole floor gave a little wobble.

She watched the bookmark. It rolled when the floor wobbled. It stopped when the floor was still.

"Aha," whispered Poppy.

She took her picture book and laid it flat, open, on the floor, like a little hill. Then she gave the beanbag a gentle pat. Phoomf. The floor wobbled, and the bookmark rolled down the page, all the way to the middle of the book.

Poppy closed the cover, very softly. Snap.

She picked up the book and sank into the beanbag. The lamp glowed like a moon. Outside, a duck went quack on the pond.

Poppy opened her book, right where the bookmark was waiting.