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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a story about someone who volunteers to read for others at the local library, and how it impacts their community.

Posted in Adults on Dec 2, 2022

Submissions are closed

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✍️ 22 stories

“A Love to Read” by Corey Melin

Submitted to Contest #175

Gerald is an actor. Gerald is an avid reader of countless novels. Gerald has an excellent memory, so he can recite pages from a book without looking at it. Gerald has been told many times how he can be famous for his talents. Gerald can be a rich man with his talents. What does Gerald say to these people?             “I can care less about being famous or rich. The talent given used to put a smile on someone’s face. To give someone hope for the future. To make their day a littl...

26 comments 26
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“An ABC” by Rebecca Miles

Submitted to Contest #175

Allusions to abuse I hate books. Every story I’ve ever overheard has been a load of rubbish from start to finish, nothing at all like how life actually is. Given this, it is a bit weird that I go every afternoon to my local library as soon as school is out. I stay until the librarian, Miss Robin, rings the bell and I have to leave, heading slowly to number 83 Prickleby Road: the brick box with the broken gate I should call home.Today is no exception. I leave dusk at the door as I slip into the warm bright lights of Woolverton library. I han...

24 comments 24
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“The Storyteller” by Wally Schmidt

Submitted to Contest #175

It is impossible to form a perfect circle, so the children position themselves in a lopsided one around Mrs. Beasley, the soon-to-be retired librarian. She loves her job and all the library patrons, the children who come for story hour, the high school misfits who take refuge in the library during lunch hour, the unhoused who drift in for warmth and a cushioned seat. But she is getting on in years and it is time to enlist someone who is younger and has more energy. That someone is Diana, who has just completed her degree in Information and L...

31 comments 31
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“Books” by Isaac Walker

Submitted to Contest #175

"You are already fourteen years old! You should be earning money!" My mother tells me one morning. I groan, putting down my controller. I pause my game, looking over at her angrily. For three years now she has been bugging me about getting a job of some kind. But now I don't think I can make any more excuses for why I can't work. I mean, two summers ago I made the excuse that I got sick so often that I would barely be able to go to work. And then last summer I made the excuse that none of my other friends had jobs and that I would never be a...

6 comments 6
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“I SEE YOU” by Julie Mills

Submitted to Contest #175

Being a small town, on a small island in Casco Bay, having only one small library, is a given. Our library is affectionately called The Little Library That Could.” If a building could be a hero, the LLTC would be mine. I love to curl up on a chair and disappear into a favorite book, on a blustery day. It’s solid brick construction always feels safe and secure. We have one librarian who divides his time between some of the other small islands, coming to shore on the 6:15 ferry from Portland every Tuesday. The other days of the week are covere...

2 comments 2
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“Curious George and the Unforgettable Summer” by Savannah Wagner

Submitted to Contest #175

I wasn’t thrilled to volunteer at the library that summer, even in the slightest. If it weren’t for the damned pack of cigarettes Mom found. Even worse, they were Colleen’s cigarettes. She’s the one who forced me to try one behind the Winn Dixie after volleyball practice. So after a merciless lecture from Mom and a biblical sermon from Dad, I either had to volunteer at the community church every day cleaning the pews and dusting off chalkboards in the musty Sunday school rooms or volunteer at the library. The last novel I think I ever read f...

4 comments 4
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“Princess Story Time” by Audrey Harmon

Submitted to Contest #175

“Thank you so much, again, for agreeing to do this.”  “Hardly,” Tessa said. “You didn’t give me much of a choice, Emily.” Maybe that was harsh. Tessa knew her sister was home sick and needed help today. She took a breath and said with less malice, “What else are twin sisters for?”  “See? That’s the spirit.”  Tessa checked her makeup in the mirror again, shocked at who was looking back at her. Giant eyes framed by thick, brunette curls, and large yellow pearl studs on her ears. She need only look down to see the most incons...

4 comments 4
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“The Magic of the Storyteller” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #175

She had heard rumors of the storyteller, but since Lydia was a cynic who does not believe in magic or miracles, she had a hard time with remaining objective when she heard people talk about Shem Bobannick.   He was a street person who came into the downtown library where he spent the cold days of winter napping near the radiator of the ancient public library.   Since he was usually at the door when we opened, Shem requested to volunteer to read to the young children.  The children would come in for story hour, but ...

0 comments 0
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“A small favor ” by Benjamin Okojie

Submitted to Contest #175

The kids at the library all quiet down as the man begins to speak again. His voice is loud and strong, not overbearing but calming and reassuring, like a wave at the beach it’s loud but it is not screaming. Among the sea of kids, I spot my brother, his head sways, and follow the man as he reads and walks around using his whole body to tell the story. He doesn’t see me yet and I doubt he will, until the man stops talking again, but today I’m in no rush, so I’ll bite. “But I can’t save the village the boy cried to the fox,” the man reads. He t...

3 comments 3
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“The Sound of Your Voice” by Rodica D

Submitted to Contest #175

The voice was the first thing I noticed about someone. It either drew me in, or it warned me to keep a distance. I rarely interacted with people I didn’t know. It was mainly because of my reticence to be the center of attention, rather than my disability. I had learned to live in darkness from a young age. I had a handful of friends who I trusted with my life, and a few other acquaintances who I allowed close to me. Other than that, I stayed away from everyone at all costs. Holiday times were a brutal freedom from the routine of everyd...

7 comments 7
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“Lillie the Listener ” by Gillian Kingsley

Submitted to Contest #175

Gemma hopped off the school bus feeling thoroughly miserable. Today had been one of the worst days of her life. How could she show her face at school ever again? It was total humiliation. ‘TGI Friday’ is right! At least she had the weekend ahead of her. Maybe she would run away from home so she didn't have to face her classmates on Monday morning.      Gemma walked slowly up the tree-lined hill toward the park. She needed time alone to think and cry. Her mom wouldn’t be home from work for another hour or so and she needed...

0 comments 0
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“Unseen-able, Un hearable kind of Love” by David Phan

Submitted to Contest #175

It was a quiet Sunday, just silent for Mr Brooks to bask in the stillness of the cozy library that his old pop’s pop has built with his calloused hands. The moment he put a stake in the undisturbed dirt was him upstarting a generation.  Behind the lacquered oak library reception desk, attended by no living soul or any, the quaint room that laid beyond it, was pure self imposed chaos. In his destructive haven, perched on his rustic chair, weary legs on top of his desk scattered with towers of books and half opened cardboard boxes, ...

0 comments 0
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“HONESTY PAYS” by BRUCE MARTIN

Submitted to Contest #175

Isidore Beckerman relished sitting down with a good book on the weekend. He had always loved reading, favoring detective mysteries and adventures, with the occasional how-to manual or inspirational text a close second choice. Following his usual Saturday morning breakfast of oatmeal with maple syrup and a banana cut in, Isidore made himself a nice, steaming cup of coffee and ambled over to his bookshelf to peruse his extensive collection and select his next read. As he shuffled through the spines of the books, his eyes suddenly focused on...

2 comments 2
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“BOOKS ARE FOREVER” by Melinda Madrigal

Submitted to Contest #175

Books are a dime a dozen. They teach you. They inspire you. They make you laugh and cry. Books are your best friend when you need one. Books never let you down. Books has always been part of my life when I needed them to be. Books kept me alive during dark periods in my life. Books changed me in ways I never expected and I want to bring part of my life to help my community. The kids in my community have been in a bad way for sometime. Many of the children's parents are in the military. They haven't seen their parents in a long time. I fe...

2 comments 2
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“From Prison To A Barn” by Maureen MacLennan

Submitted to Contest #175

From Prison To A Barn The echo of crunching snow under his boots irritated his ears and he found it odd, it was nature after all why after all the things his ears had picked up in the last decade would the sound of his boots on frozen water be the sound that annoyed him? After brushing it off, he sat on a short bench outside the public library. He was almost an hour early but his apartment bordered on petite in size and was claustrophobic for longer than two hours at a stretch. His gloved hand cradled the fast-food coffee cup, he’d bought...

6 comments 6
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