Half Price Books, Records, Magazines, Inc.

****JavaScript based drop down DHTML menu generated by NavStudio. (OpenCube Inc. - http://www.opencube.com)****


Say Good Night to Illiteracy, 13th Edition Bedtime Storybook Read by Tim Jernigan, Half Price Books employee and literacy advocate

Half Price Books has been supporting literacy since its founding in 1972. Fourteen years ago, we sponsored our first Bedtime Storybook Contest, open to writers of all ages. Through the years we received entries from some of the most talented writers in the country.

		Third Place Winner Isabelle Winkle Touches the Moon, by Katie Beckman Illustration by Katie Beckman Back to Storybook Table of Contents QuickTime and the QuickTime Logo are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. The Get QuickTime Badge is a trademark of Apple Computer Inc., used with permission. Broadband Connection (DSL or Cable) recommended.

Isabelle Winkle loves to swing. She could spend the entire day on her swing, going higher and higher.

"I wonder how far I can go," Isabelle thought one day. "I'll bet I can reach the tops of the trees." She leaned back in her swing, ready to take off. She leaned back in her swing, ready to take off. Isabelle swung up and up, swishing past the dandelions, going higher and higher until her toes brushed the leaves on the tree. With a burst of energy, Isabelle flew up into the branches, startling three baby bluebirds in a nest. She swung back down and peered up through the leaves,

"I'll bet if I try harder, I can reach the top of my house." So Isabelle pumped her legs, back and forth, faster and faster. Before she knew it, she'd soared past the leaves, past the tops of the trees, and tapped her foot on the chimney.

"That wasn't so far at all." She paused back down on the ground, catching her breath. "I know if I try even harder than before, I can reach the clouds in the sky!" Isabelle held tight to the swing. She swung past the leaves, past the tops of the trees, past the chimney on the top of her house, until she popped right through a cloud and into a flock of ducks.

"Coming through!" shouted Isabelle, her foot barely missing a flapping wing. "I'm not stopping here!"

Isabelle gathered all the strength in her body and lifted off for a great journey on her swing. Higher and higher she rose, her legs a blur as she zoomed past the leaves, past the tops of the trees, past the chimney on top of her house and past the clouds in the sky.

"I'm an astronaut!" Isabelle exclaimed as she launched up and up and up and up...until she stretched her legs out as far as they'd go and ever so lightly touched the moon.Isabelle Winkle laughed and grabbed moon dust with her toes. She gazed back through the stars to see how far she'd gone. The earth looked like a tiny marble in a deep, dark sky.

Isabelle's stomach grumbled and she remembered it was almost suppertime. She pushed off the moon and slowly drifted back down to her very own yard, in her very own swing. As soon as Isabelle's feet touched the ground, her mother peeked her head outside. "There you are!" she called from the door. "I've been looking for you. Where did you go, to the moon and back?"

Isabelle just smiled and wiggled her toes.