Week 4 Storytelling: The Book of Ross

     Jeff loved to read. It was a simple fact that anyone in the 2^nd grade class at Lowell Elementary School could tell you. Ms. Tellberry had a hard time keeping enough books in their class library to satiate Jeff’s need to read. After thoroughly scouring the class library for the umpteenth time, Jeff decided it was time to take his reading interests elsewhere. He would have to go to the middle school library. 

    Now as a 2^nd grader the middle school library was a scary place. There were 6^th graders roaming everywhere and if you weren’t careful you could even run into an 8^th grader. But Jeff was determined, he had a unquenchable thirst for reading and knowledge. His teacher Ms. Tellberry told him to be very careful and respectful to the older students while traveling to the library. Jeff had already begun to plan his adventure. He would sneak carefully down the hallways, find one or two quickly, and then run back to safety in the 2^nd grade classroom.  Sarah, his best friend (and okay… sometimes girlfriend), warned him that he would get caught. Jeff was determined though and could not be scared away from the unlimited source of books. 

    The next day Jeff decided to enact his plan. He had his mom drop him off to school early so he could sneak into the library before any of the older kids were there. Jeff successfully found two books! One titled “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” and “The Book of Roth”. He had been recommended they Harry Potter series before and was intrigued. However, “The Book of Roth” had been a new find. It had been tucked away almost nearly unseen. And to get it he had had to maneuver several stuffed animals on the shelf out of the way! In particular, the stuffed snake had been very stubborn to get rid of because it was wrapped all around the shelf. The book looked good though, its spine clearly worn and it had the ‘old book’ smell, Jeff’s favorite smell.

What I imagine Jeff to look like in the library, from CNN

      Returning to the 2^nd grade classroom safely, with only one 6^th grader giving Jeff a glare, Jeff felt like he had had success. But Sarah, his girlfriend for the day, told him that she thought “The Book of Roth” would cause trouble. She had heard rumors of it from her older brother, Adam. Apparently it held all the secrets as to how to become popular in middle school. It had been created several years ago by some popular 8^th grader and had been added to ever since. 

    Now Jeff had to read it! During his lunch break and recess Jeff scoured through “The Book of Roth”, reading every detail and occasionally making his own notes on what he read. Unfortunately, Jeff accidentally spilled milk on a few of the pages, ruining the writing on them! He tried to rewrite what he could remember and put it back in his backpack to finish reading later. 

    But Sarah had been right! Several of the 6^th and 8^th graders realized their book was missing during recess. They had gone to look for it and it was not there. The bad news for Jeff was that Chris, the 6^th grader who had glared at Jeff in the hallway, was one of those 6^th graders to look for the book. Immediately he told the others that he had seen Jeff leaving the library early that morning. The 6^th and 8^th graders quickly decided to snatch the book back, but would have to make Jeff pay for taking the book. For only older kids were supposed to know about and see the book! 

    To get revenge they stole Jeff’s backpack and grabbed Sarah after school. Jeff knew something was wrong when he went to look for his backpack and it wasn’t there! In its place was a note telling him to go to the middle school library. So, Jeff decided he would have to go and rescue Sarah. After carefully navigating through the massive 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th graders, Jeff arrived at the middle school library. There was Sarah, being held by a 7^th grade girl! 

    The older kids then told Jeff to give back the book and they would let Sarah go. Little did they know that they already had the book, for it was still in Jeff’s backpack! He told them it was in his backpack and which pocket it was in. The older kids dug around and finally found the book. Jeff, like a many little kids, had a lot of stuff in his backpack and was not the best about cleaning it out. They took the book and shoved Sarah back to Jeff. They then warned both of them that if any little kid ever tried to take “The Book of Ross” ever again, they would make them pay! 

    Jeff and Sarah ran out from the library, and returned to their cubbies in the 2^nd grade classroom. Jeff had scooped up his backpack on their way out and was glad to be rid of the older kids. Sarah then told Jeff that he owed her an apology for putting her in danger. Jeff apologized and told Sarah he would never take “The Book of Ross” ever again. Sarah was very grateful for the apology and even kissed Jeff on the cheek! 

    When Jeff’s mom picked him up from school, she asked how his day at school went. Jeff had no way to tell his mom so he decided a “Pretty good, nothing new really,” would suffice. He couldn’t believe that Sarah had kissed him, but most importantly that the older kids had fallen for his trick! For Jeff had been very smart at lunch, and copied the entire book! So the older kids had taken the original, but Jeff had his own copy of "The Book of Roth" that he would keep at home to read and enjoy. 

Author's Note:
 

I used The Book of Thoth from Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie as my stories guideline. It is a story about a man who has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, much like Jeff, and is then told about The Book of Thoth which is supposed to give the reader limitless power over lots of things in the world. Once the man goes, to get the book he must beat back lots of animals, an un-killable snake, and collect the book from many boxes. His wife is very cautious of this book, and tells him it will only cause trouble. It does because the god Thoth is very upset that his book has been stolen and so in revenge he kills the man's child and wife. I thought that might be a little too far for our hero Jeff. The man also gets the last word though because even though he dies the book is buried with him, preventing Thoth from getting the book back. I decided to write this version of the tale because I thought a small child going into the big kid's world would create an equal source of adventure! I also liked how it would fit the need for a good book to read!