A Book Full of History

“Psst. Over here,” came a voice from a dark corner of the library.

David looked towards the noise, but didn’t see anything. It was near closing time, and his mom would be there to pick him up soon. Most of the other kids had gone already.

“Psst. Over here,” came the voice again.

Gingerly, he walked to the corner, but didn’t see anything. Just more shelves with dust covered books. It looked like it was the history section.

“Psst. Up here.”

David looked up and still only saw books. Before he had the chance to look down though, some dust fell from the top shelf. This caught his interest, so he looked around for something to climb on.

“Yeah, up here!” came the voice again.

He found a step stool one row over. Cautiously he climbed up the two steps but could still barely see the shelf. Moving his hand across the shelf, he felt just books. As he came to the end, his hand bumped a book that was out further than the others.

“Ouch! Stop that!”

Startling him, David toppled backwards on the stool and fell to the ground with a thud.

“Hey, you OK down there?”

“What? Who’s doing that?” he asked the air.

“Me. Up here.”

He regained his footing and climbed back on the stool. Again he peeked over the top of the shelf but only found dusty books.

“Where are you?”

“You’re close. Move your hand to the right again, but not so hard this time.”

David slowly ran his hand to the right until he bumped into the hard spine of a book.

“Yep, that’s me.”

“You’re a book. You can’t talk.” David said.

“Oh yeah, than what I am doing right now?”

“Well, uh. This is someone playing a trick on me. There’s someone on the other side of this row.” he said as he cautiously got down from the stool and ran around the corner. To his dismay there were no people on the other side.

“Told ya so.”

“But, you’re a book. You can’t talk!”

“Get back up here and take me off the shelf,” the voice responded.

With curiosity now getting the best of him, David climbed back on the stool and found the book again. He carefully grabbed the spine of the book and pulled it out. Dust floated down around him, and the weight of the book caused him to teeter on the stool.

“Careful,” the voice said as David climbed down. “I only have one spine.”

With the book now in front of him, he looked at the cover. The book itself wasn’t much to look at. It had a black leather cover that was covered in dust. The title was written in gold print, but was very hard to read. David strained his eyes, but could only make out the first three letters—H I S. He figured the word was probably history.

“What are you?” David asked the book.

“A book, dummy.”

“I know, but…but…”

“Books don’t talk,” the book finished for him. “I know. I get that all the time. I, however, do.”

David walked closer to the middle of the library to sit at a table. The light was better here, and he could now see that the book had two eyes and a mouth. He had to blink, because he thought he was seeing things.

“What do you want?” David asked.

“I want to help you.”

“How? What do I need help with?”

“You have a history test this week, don’t you?” the book asked.

David was in the seventh grade. He was having trouble in his Civics classes. They had been studying American history, and were currently talking about America’s independence. He did have a test in two days, which he had been dreading all week. That’s why his mom had dropped him off at the library today.

“Yes, but how did you know?”

“No kid wants to be at the library all afternoon for fun. Common’!” the book responded. “Open my cover.”

David opened the cover and couldn’t believe what he saw. Instead of words, he saw a room full of people with white wigs on. They seemed to be intently studying a book at the front of the room. Each one took their turn signing a document.

“Hello David,” one man turned to him and said.

David thought he recognized the voice.

“What the…”

“See those men up there,” the man said to him. “Those are our founding fathers. They are signing the Declaration of Independence.”

Suddenly David realized why the voice sounded familiar.

“You’re the voice from the book! How? What is this place?”

The man introduced himself as Thomas. He began to explain why David was where he was at. “You’re studying American history, right? You’re studying how we became the United States of America, right?”

“Yes, but...”

“Well, I have brought you to the actual event.”

“How?”

“See David, I am a magic book. I find kids who need my help. I can change to any subject that is needed. I sit on that top shelf and wait for a perfect opportunity to announce my presence. You happened to be the person I chose. I want you to pass your civics test this week.”

Thomas grabbed David by the arm and began to show him around the room. He introduced him to John Adams, John Hancock, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin and many others. After a conversation with Benjamin Franklin about the Declaration of Independence, the two of them said good bye and left the building. Once outside the building, a bright light flashed, and the next thing David saw was a harbor with a lot of ships waiting in a dock.

“Where are we now?” David asked.

“Follow me,” he replied leading David up a plank and onto one of the ships.

Once they were on the deck of the ship, David noticed that there was a large crowd gathered. Each person kept picking up boxes from the ship and dumping their contents into the waters below.

“Why are they doing this,” David asked.

“It’s the Boston Tea Party,” he replied. “Common’, let’s help them out.”

The two of them grabbed boxes of tea and began to throw them over the side of the ship. David and Thomas did this for a while as Thomas explained why the people were protesting. When they saw a crowd had gathered below and was starting to get rowdy, Thomas grabbed David and pulled him aside. There was another flash of light, and David found himself transported to another place.

This happened several times, for what seemed like hours. David learned about the pox, the Boston Massacre, and was introduced to famous people. As they watched George Washington become president, Thomas turned to David and asked, “Do you think you’re ready for that civics test yet?”

“I do!” David responded. “But can’t you come with me?”

“No, I’m afraid not. I can’t leave the library. I have to be here for the next person who needs me.”

Before he had time to protest, David found himself back at the table in the library. His head was on the table, and he felt a tap on his shoulder. “Thomas?” he said, as his head jolted upwards.

“No, David its mom.”

David looked around the room, but didn’t see Thomas anywhere. He looked on the table in front of him and saw the old black book. He grabbed it and opened to the middle, but nothing happened. He flipped through the pages, but all he saw were words.

“Where’d he go?” he asked his mom.

“Where’d who go?”

“Thomas. He was here a minute ago. We went to Philadelphia together and saw the founding fathers sign the Declaration of Independence.” he told his mom with glee. “We even threw tea off the side of a ship at the Boston Tea Party.”

“Oh David. You must have fallen asleep while reading your history books.”

“No mom, it really happened.”

“Well, I just hope you learned something for that test tomorrow. Let’s go.”

David told his mom to wait for a minute, and he grabbed the black book from the table. He ran over to the history section, climbed on the stool and slid the book back into place. “Maybe someone else will need you soon,” he quietly said to the book before getting off the stool.

The next day, as he was getting ready for school, his mom came into his room.

“David, why is there a tea bag in your jeans pocket?”

David smiled at his mom and said, “I went to the Boston Tea Party yesterday, and I’m going to pass my civics test today.”