Letterspell

Her hair was red and her name was Grace

Freckles were speckled all over her face

If she wasn’t at home or at school, she’d be

In Letterspell Public Library.

She loved just to sit there and read by herself

Then she’d put the books carefully back on the shelf

Stroke them and breathe in their lovely book smell

The books were her friends, as I think you can tell

The evenings grew darker, away went the sun

By autumn, the cold, heavy rain had begun

One night the rain came and then came some more

The rain carried on, it did nothing but pour

As Grace reached the library the very next night

It seemed very quiet, there was no-one in sight

A note had been taped to the big wooden door

‘Closed for flooding’, it said on the note, nothing more.

It took them a whole week to wipe down the floors

Then Letterspell finally opened it’s doors

Grace was so happy, she searched for a book

And settled herself in her favourite nook.

The book in her hand felt as light as can be

Grace turned to the first page and what did she see?

She frowned at the book, it was quite a surprise

She had to blink three times and rub both her eyes.

Every word had just gone, all the pages were clear

How on earth could the stories all just disappear?

There was nothing inside - only pages of white

Blank pages of nothing, it just wasn’t right

Grace went to the library desk feeling quite shy

“This book has no letters. Can you tell me why?”

The lady who worked there just nodded her head

“All the books are the same, they're all empty”, she said

“The flood is the problem, the rain is to blame

The letters have vanished, it’s just such a shame

It sounds a bit strange and I might not be right

But I think they were all washed away in the night.

I was just making tea when I came in today

Do you know what I found in my teacup? – an A

It looked sort of sad as it sat in my cup

So I reached in and lifted that poor letter up

It sat there and watched as I finished my tea

And suddenly, next to me, there was a P

And an F and an M and beside them an O

They gazed at me sadly all there in a row.

I piled them all up in a big letter heap

They all grumbled then jumbled together to sleep

I quietly opened the library front door

And found a small w lying on the floor

An X and a T had climbed up a tree

And they sat on a branch just staring at me

I found a small r hiding under a car

And some Js on the bonnet, they looked quite bizarre,

Some letters were running towards me quite fast

A U chased a Q and an I followed last

I saw a few Cs and some Ks rushing by

And then I stepped backwards and trod on a Y”

The library lady was shaking her head

“We need all those letters to come back”, she said

“Could you please try and find them, could you do that for me?”

She coughed and knocked over a small baby g

“So sorry!”, she gasped, as she picked up the letter

She squashed him back into his shape, “there, that’s better”

Then Grace put her coat on and left Letterspell

And almost tripped over a B, H and L

“I need to find all of the letters”, Grace said

Then spotted a sad looking S and a Z

Behind them a V was asleep on the floor

“Is that all of the letters, or are there still more?”

She looked at the letters and started to count

There were lots but it wasn’t the quite right amount

“I need more”, Grace said sadly, “I’m still missing 3

Where on earth are those letters, just where can they be?”

She searched the road carefully, this way and that

The streets were deserted except for a cat

It’s eyes were sea green and it’s fur soft and black

And E, N and D were asleep on it’s back

She ran to the cat and he miaowed at her loudly

“Thank you!”, laughed Grace and he purred at her proudly

“We have all the letters, they’re just a bit wet

The library lady will be happy, I bet”

“Are you sure that you really found all 26?”

“I think so”, said Grace “but they’re in a big mix”

She lined them all up in a long letter line

“I think they’re all here now, I think that it’s fine”

So the library finally opened again

And the weather was sunny and dry, with no rain

Now all of the letters are back in their place

And the books are quite safe - and it’s all thanks to Grace