The Little Book Doctor

Lily, an eight-year-old with puffy pigtails and round glasses, spends every Saturday at the town library, where the librarian Mr. Abara keeps a stool ready for her at the front desk. On a rainy afternoon he brings in a cart of old books in need of care, and Lily spots a sad-looking volume at the bottom with a loose cover, torn pages and a cracked spine. It is called "Tales of the Whispering Woods," and when Mr. Abara offers to show her how a book doctor works, she nods so fast her pigtails bounce.

While examining the broken binding, Lily finds a folded paper hidden inside, and from it flutters Pip, a tiny story sprite no bigger than her finger, wearing a red scarf and a thimble cap. Pip explains that the book holds a story nobody has read for a long time, and that without repair it might vanish forever. Guided by Mr. Abara and helped by Pip, Lily brushes away dust, glues loose corners and sews pages back into the spine, working slowly and carefully until the story inside begins to wake. Written by Yavuz DEMİRKIRAN, this gentle tale can be read on Online Masal.