Charlotte and the Purple Journal

Charlotte Robertson is just like any other fifth grade girl. She loves to ride her bike, play with her friends, go on adventures and explore. That is, until she had to move. Her dad got a new job half-way across the country, which means that she had to leave behind her old school and all of her friends. She was sure she was not going to like this new place. How does she know if there’s a good place to ride her bike? What if all the other kids think she’s weird because she’s not from there? Her life was over!

Her family packed up the only house she had ever known and said goodbye. As her family drove away, Charlotte stared out the window back at the house. She knew she would miss it and was feeling sad as she watched the only house she had ever known get smaller and smaller. Even though Charlotte was nervous about this big move, the drive was a lot of fun. They stopped at every landmark they could find and took pictures as a family! They even stopped at a farm stand on the side of the road where she got to pick out some candy as a treat for the drive.

As they got closer, Charlotte started to feel nervous again. This was a major change! They pulled up to the house and Charlotte got to be the first one through the door. That meant that she got to choose her room before her little brother. She barreled up the stairs, the fastest she’d ever ran, to make sure she got the best room in the whole house. The first door she opened had a light pink room with a big window seat.

“Whoa, this room is so cool, but the pink’s going to have to go. I only like green,” Charlotte said aloud. Her dad came walking into Charlotte’s new room at that very moment.

“Looks like you got the coolest room in the house! And don’t worry, we can definitely paint your room green to help it feel more like home”, said her dad. “Here. You left your backpack in the car.”

Charlotte took her backpack from her dad and sat on the window seat. She pulled out her green journal and decided to write about her drive into this new town, Willow. As she opened her journal, she paused and stared out the window at the big oak tree in their new backyard.

“That looks like a good tree for a treehouse. I’ve always wanted one of those but our old house didn’t have any trees”, she thought.

As she was about to look back down at her journal, she caught something in the reflection of the window. It looked like something shiny behind her. She turned around and saw a little door with a bright gold handle in her closet. Charlotte got off her new window seat, got down on her hands and knees and slowly crawled towards that secret door. Since Charlotte has always been naturally curious, she opened the door as soon as she got to it. She expected some spiders or bugs to come crawling out, but instead there was a purple journal just sitting there.

She reached for the purple journal, and pulled it out. Something felt strange about this. She opened it up, and the first page read:

Hi, if you found this journal, that means you’re living in my old room. I had to move out because my Grandma is sick and mom said we had to go take care of her in Florida. I’m a fifth grader at Willow Bend Elementary School. Or was, I guess. I heard there was a kid my age moving into this house, so I thought I’d give you a treasure hunt. I hope you like those, I know I do. I drew you a map in the back of this journal, just in case you’re new here. You have to make sure you don’t skip all the way to the end! I wrote in some cool places to check out here in Willow.

P.S. Sorry about the pink room, I’m all about purple now.

Charlotte opened up the map and at the very top said that she needed a bike to get to these places.

“Perfect! That means Willow is perfect for bike riding!” she thought.

Charlotte packed up her backpack again and ran downstairs to tell her parents she wanted to go explore on her bike for two hours. The first place in the purple notebook was around the corner from the house, a cute little ice cream shop with the sign “VOTED BEST CONES IN WILLOW SINCE 1957”. The girl in the journal said to try their chocolate cookie swirl in a waffle cone, so that’s exactly what Charlotte did. It was the best ice cream she’d ever had! She started to wonder if maybe Willow wasn’t going to be so bad after all.

She sat on the bench outside of the ice cream shop while she ate her ice cream. She watched kids ride by on their bikes, people walking their dogs and old trucks drive by. Everyone who passed by gave her a warm smile that felt like a hug. She was just about finished with her ice cream cone, so it was time to check out stop number two. Charlotte cracked open the purple journal once again to take a look at the map.

The second stop is a bit farther than the first, at Willow Bend Elementary School. Charlotte memorized the route, jumped on her bike and pedaled as fast as she could down the road. After two right turns and a left turn, she was at the front of the school. The map showed a big red X next to a tree by the playground. She hopped back on her bike and went around the school until she reached the playground. The tree was at the back corner by the monkey bars.

“There it is, but I don’t see what’s so special about this tree. Why did she take me here?” Charlotte said.

Charlotte looked back at the map and right by the tree the words “Look Up” were written in red. Charlotte looked up and saw a small package on the lowest branch. How would she get this down? She looked around and saw a long stick that was propped up against the side of the tree trunk. Charlotte picked up the stick and reached up until the stick hit the edge of the package. It wasn’t quite tall enough, so she jumped and jumped slightly moving the package until it finally came tumbling down into the grass. Charlotte picked up the package and carefully pulled it open. Inside the package was a locket and a key attached to the chain.

“I wonder where this key goes?” thought Charlotte.

The journal gave her the third and final location with the instructions to put on the locket and not to lose the key. Charlotte quickly made her way back to her bike and before she knew it she was getting close to what looked like a forest. Just off the road there were arrows made out of painted rocks pointing down a path. She slowly got off her bike, feeling skeptical, and followed the arrows down the path. At the end of the path were a cluster of red rocks in the shape of a “X” right next to a tree trunk and below a ladder.

Charlotte gazed upon the tree and noticed the ladder was leading up to a tree house. She was ecstatic! She grabbed onto the first rung and hoisted herself up the ladder until she reached a platform. A door with a shiny gold handle was at the very top, but it was locked. Charlotte looked down at her new necklace with the key attached. She unclasped the hook and let the key fall into her hand. She hoped this would work, because getting into this tree house meant everything. The key slid into the keyhole. It fit! One turn and she was in!

Once inside the treehouse she’d been dreaming about, she took in all the drawings and photographs of a small group of friends, all with the same necklace she had on.

“This must be their treehouse hangout,” thought Charlotte.

As Charlotte was taking in everything inside the treehouse, she heard a clanging that sounded like the ladder hitting the tree trunk. She peered out the window and saw two girls giggling while climbing up the ladder. The girls walked into the treehouse with ease and froze as they saw Charlotte sitting on one of the bean bag chairs.

“How did you get in here? And where did you get that necklace?” Asked the tall blonde girl.

Charlotte held up the purple journal.

“The girl that used to live in my new house left me this and it led me here,” she said.

“Well, what’s your name?” asked the short brunette girl.

“Charlotte, what’s yours?”

“I’m Katie and that’s Ella,” said the brunette. “Since Joanna left you her journal, the necklace and the key to our treehouse, I guess that makes you one of us now.”

The three girls chatted for a hour until it was time for Charlotte to head home. As she was getting up to leave Charlotte told the girls: “I guess Willow won’t be so bad after all. Same time tomorrow?”

Charlotte rode her bike home with a big smile on her face and a heart full of hope and excitement.