In Storyville, Stanley Bookman was trying to think of a book he could write for the Storyville library. He’d been thinking for hours and still hadn’t come up with the first sentence.
So, he went to his friend Spotty Bookmark to see if he had any ideas for the book. When he got there, he read a sign on Spotty’s door and it said: “I am at the ink station to get more ink for my bookmobile.”
So Stanley went to his other friend named Dave Dictionary to see if he had an idea for his book. When he got there, Dave had no ideas.
Stanley was sad. So both Dave and Stanley went to their other friend Penny Pencil. Penny finally had an idea. Stanley was so happy he fell to the ground.
When Stanley got up, he said to Penny, “What is your idea?”
“Well,” Penny said, “You can go around the World of Ink and get stories from the people.”
“That is a great idea!” said Stanley.
So, they started walking to the Bookport to go on an aeropaperplane around the World of Ink.
Dave started to cry because Stanley was leaving and it would take a long time for him to get back.
Penny said, “It’s okay!” thirteen times.
On their way there, they saw Spotty. When Spotty came over and Penny explained what was going on and why Dave was crying like a baby, Spotty had an idea. Spotty said to Stanley, “Why don’t you take all of us?”
“Why, of course!” said Stanley. Dave immediately stopped crying and did the happy dance.
When they got to the Bookport, Stanley, Dave, Spotty, and Penny had to do a lot of paper work to get their tickets. When they finished, they got on the plane and sat down. Stanley and Dave sat in 15E and 15F. Spotty and Penny sat in 15C and 15D.
When they finally lifted off, Dave fell asleep and Stanley, Spotty, and Penny were looking out the window. When they landed in Inkiana, Stanley was the first one to get out of the aeropaperplane. When all of them got out, they started their adventure around the World of Ink.
The four of them talked to 100 people in Inkiana. Stanley wrote all of their stories in his notebooks. When they left Inkiana, they had 40 pages of stories.
Next they went to Pentucky. Dave loved Pentucky. He did not want to leave . . . but they needed to keep gathering stories. Stanley now had 1,000 pages. Spotty wanted to go to New Inkland next.
When they were done talking to people in New Inkland, Stanley had 2,457 pages. Then they went all the way to Poemistan. That was Penny’s favorite place. Stanley now had 3,007 pages. The last place they went was Wordolia. Stanley got the most pages here. He now had 5,995 pages. He finished his book!
Spotty wanted to go home now. So, they traveled back to Storyville.
When they got back to Storyville, Stanley added a couple details to the book. He went to the library with his friends and turned in the book right away.
The librarian, Mrs. Bookity, loved the story. But she wanted to know what the title was. Stanley never thought of that.
Dave said, “We can call it Stories Around The World of Ink, by Stanley Bookman.”
Mrs. Bookity loved the title. She said, “I will make 15 copies of it. Is that all right?”
“YES!” Stanley said.
Then they all went back home and went to bed.
The next day, Stanley got a phone call from the librarian. She said, “I need a new book. Can you write one for me?”
Stanley knew what to do. He started walking to the Bookport.
~The End~
Illustration Copyright © 2008 Kevin Scott Collier
Copyright © 2008 by Stories for Children Magazine