Write about a character stumbling upon a library book that changes the course of their life, for better or worse.

Posted in Middle School on Oct 26, 2022

Submissions are closed

Sorry, we are not accepting submissions for this prompt as it is not part of an active contest. Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy Prompts account.

Or create a new Reedsy account:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 207 stories

“Cat's Eye Soup for the Human Soul” by Matthew Blackburn

Submitted to Contest #91

I have never had a real friend before, I guess that's why I spent most of my childhood inside of the library. It was there that I first learned my love for books. No matter what I went through in life be it the bullies at school, the teachers saying that I “wasn't applying myself enough”, or my parents who just frankly didn't care one way or another that I was around with a good book could I could take all of that negativity, and lose it in a magnificent story.It wasn't just the books that drew me there though. It was the smell, the quiet, t...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Look Between the Lines” by Daisy Goudan

Submitted to Contest #91

Work-study in the library wasn’t supposed to change how I saw the universe. It was just supposed to pay for the things that my “women in STEM” scholarship didn’t cover. Then my entire life was turned upside down because I caught some girl trying to leave a book that wasn’t ours on the shelves. Honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way.Most of our security at the library is aimed at students trying to take things out that they shouldn’t. Things they haven’t checked out, or can’t because they’ve got overdue fines on their accounts. Magazines ...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Fired from BBU” by Tim Gorringe

Submitted to Contest #91

Ding! He opened his email and read the message. “Dear Dr. Klein, On 3/4/21 the promotion committee reviewed your tenure application. Based on the letter from the committee chair, and my review of your file, I am afraid I must inform you that tenure has been denied. In accordance with the University's governing regulation you …”“Not fair” he said and punched the laptop. He watched the crack in the screen as it snaked from the top-right to the bottom-left and divided the pixels into halves of bright and dark. He scrutinized the newly-attached ...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Tied to a Drawing” by Elizabeth Etzwiler

Submitted to Contest #91

“Hey, get back here that’s mine!” screamed Raymond “So, what I have it now what are you going to do about it?” argued the punk that stole his book “I don’t have to do anything it’s a library book so the librarian will get you for it.” Raymond said At that point the punk got bored with the book and tossed it down at Raymond’s feet and went to bother someone else. What the punk didn’t realize is that Raymond had bought the book from the library a while ago at one of the library yard sales they ha...

71 comments 71

Read story

“Jameela Villas” by Mubina Masood

Submitted to Contest #91

Someone had accidentally slipped in a dark secret, harbouring within the walls of the Jameela Villas, and Beenish had encountered the storms of such a mistake. The murder of Jameela Khan, a widow...the details of her murder had been sneaked into a lonely corner of an innocently sweet library. 'Was it a joke? A prank?' Beenish didn't care because along with the murder confession was frustration shared about not finding the jackpot hidden within the lonely borders of the Jameela villas. Holes have been dug, plots have been scavenged f...

0 comments 0

Read story

“"It's Too Late" ” by Lee Kendrick

Submitted to Contest #91

“It’s Too Late"The library has always been an old haunt of mine. I’ve used my local library and others for many years. There is something about a library that is so homely; maybe it’s the smell of old books that gives this psychological effect. I feel Libraries are a gold mine of information. I’ve used them for my college days, for just pleasure and to find out the answer to things of interest. I have even had an excuse to go into a library just to escape the heavy rain. Take last Thursday, for instance; it must have been abou...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Well isn't this RICH” by Leah VanHoose

Submitted to Contest #91

The air was cool but she could still feel the bead of sweat roll down her back. She'd been sitting in her piece of shit car for the past 30 minutes waiting on the tow truck driver. Deciding he was going to let her melt in that damned car she walked across the street and took refuge in the library. It smelled like dust and paper inside but she wasn't going to get heatstroke in there so she nodded to the librarian and started walking the isles of books looking for something to pass the time. The building was huge with book after book lining...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Judith Discovers the Necronomicon ” by Pako Dunwhile

Submitted to Contest #91

Judith had full access to the library’s basement vault as Assistant Head Librarian. The items located here were meant for storage or were in transition from one library to another. A sealed crate in the far back of the room caught her attention. The large, spray painted words MISKATONIC UNIVERSITY and DO NOT OPEN were stained across the wooden boards on each side of the box. Judith took a walk around the oddity. She tried to imagine what was so important to justify such warnings. The thick layer of dust on its top indicated how long the crat...

4 comments 4

Read story

“Enchanteé ” by Ae Pri

Submitted to Contest #91

“Shh! Quiet in the library!” I walked hurriedly to get away from the strict librarian. I walked through the library, looking for a book to read. While I was browsing through the shelves, I came across a book with a very curious spine. The book had a spine of velvety purple, with gold embellishments on the sides in swirls. There was no title, and where it would have- no, should have- been, instead there was an image... that kept changing shape? I knew something was wrong, and I probably should have stopped there, but I didn’t. E...

2 comments 2

Read story

“The Stranger in the Library” by Prafulla Vyas

Submitted to Contest #91

Miss Brown stared at the computer, her mind far away, dreaming of the blue ocean, relaxing and sipping margaritas on the sunny beaches of the Mexican Gulf. The cursor on the old Mac blinked impatiently, emitting short beeps, hungry for the next word. She sighed deeply, her heart heavy with grief and disillusion. Her date last night was a huge disappointment. She could not envision a happy, married life with the timid, young man sitting opposite her. She sighed again and returned to the boring job of entering data into the computer. Stacks of...

2 comments 2

Read story

“The Fifth Volume Mystery ” by Sreedevi Mahapatra

Submitted to Contest #91

Rahmat Chacha was a professional scrap dealer. He bought old books, newspapers, empty cans, jute bags, glass bottles , and other miscellaneous things which had either resale value or could be recycled. He had a two room brick house with a big yard where he kept the old stuff. Everyday morning junk sellers from different corners of the small town would make a beeline to his yard and sell their wares consisting of old newspapers, old books, glass bottles, broken plastic stuff etc. Rahamat believe...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Collecting the Devil's Due” by Clay Harker

Submitted to Contest #91

It’s not like he asked for this, and he sure didn’t go looking for trouble either. But, it’s like his Pop used to say; “If trouble comes knocking, and your words aren’t working, you better finish it and finish it quick, one way or another.” Well, trouble did come knocking and it didn’t seem like there was going to be any sweet-talking his way out of whatever the hell this was all about. Tuesday was usually Kitt’s “library and chill” day, opting for the quiet solitude the Boston Athenaeum offered over sloughing off elsewhere or knocking arou...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Worn Leather” by Sue Catrama

Submitted to Contest #91

Sun burst through the shades as the alarm was blaring.Ann scooted to the foot of the bed as her head pounded, vertigo shook her world, and hips felt as though with each monvement tiny bones were breaking. She looked over to her peacefully sleeping husband with an overwhelming desire to strike him. Chris always offered to sleep next to the wall but Ann knew he was more comfortable on the other side. Soon as her feet were firmly on the floor she though her bladder would betray her at any moment, her joints didn't allow her to move as swiftly a...

2 comments 2

Read story

“The Beginning of Common Sense Spence” by Jayke Luland

Submitted to Contest #91

'The beginning is always the hardest part, and sometimes, you need to rid yourself of shit to get to where you wanna go.' Spence Spenceforth - 2036 15 Years Earlier 'Maybe I can leave now and make the next Glass Animals concert?' Spence Spenceforth said to himself. He was a young bassist from Newtown who had just performed a gig for his transgressive noise band, 'The Collection of Men with Scary Inflections', and was looking to make the next Glass Animals gig at the Enmore. With little time to waste, he was looking to make a swift exit fro...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Chances Are” by Joe Swanson

Submitted to Contest #91

“You can’t do that.” “What?”“What do you think? You can’t reach into the drop slot an attempt to steal a book and think no one is going to object. Is there something wrong with you?”“I wasn’t attempting to steal a book. I went to slip a book into the slot. My watch band got caught on the door clasp and the watch fell into the book depository. I was just attempting to retrieve it.”“You ever hear of knocking?”That’s how it began. I wish I could tell you it had a conclusive ending, or at least an ending I coul...

0 comments 0

Read story

Load more stories

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about someone going to extreme lengths to return an overdue library book.

High School – 131 stories

Start your story with a stern librarian scolding two characters for making noise in the library.

Middle School – 116 stories

Write about a character who meticulously catalogs everything in their life, until something disrupts their system.

Middle School – 59 stories

Set your story in a library, after hours.

Horror – 254 stories

Contest #91

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: No Talking in the Library

$50

Prize money

770

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Apr 30, 2021 EST

Won by Yolanda Wu 🏆

Title: Autumn Rain

View details

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $250!

Menu

CONNECT

BLOG

APPS

TOOLS

ABOUT

Write about a character stumbling upon a library book that changes the course of their life, for better or worse.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 207 stories

“Cat's Eye Soup for the Human Soul” by Matthew Blackburn

“Look Between the Lines” by Daisy Goudan

“Fired from BBU” by Tim Gorringe

“Tied to a Drawing” by Elizabeth Etzwiler

“Jameela Villas” by Mubina Masood

“"It's Too Late" ” by Lee Kendrick

“Well isn't this RICH” by Leah VanHoose

“Judith Discovers the Necronomicon ” by Pako Dunwhile

“Enchanteé ” by Ae Pri

“The Stranger in the Library” by Prafulla Vyas

“The Fifth Volume Mystery ” by Sreedevi Mahapatra

“Collecting the Devil's Due” by Clay Harker

“Worn Leather” by Sue Catrama

“The Beginning of Common Sense Spence” by Jayke Luland

“Chances Are” by Joe Swanson

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about someone going to extreme lengths to return an overdue library book.

Start your story with a stern librarian scolding two characters for making noise in the library.

Write about a character who meticulously catalogs everything in their life, until something disrupts their system.

Set your story in a library, after hours.

Contest #91

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

770

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: