The Birthday Room: Part 3

By KEVIN HENKES

When the work was completed, the reading room seemed to have been forgotten. The shelves and chair never materialized. Ben just assumed that his parents were both so consumed with setting up their own private rooms that the reading room was temporarily abandoned. They would get around to it eventually, but obviously it wasn't a priority.

Soon thereafter, on his twelfth birthday, when Ben's parents coaxed him from bed before dawn and led him upstairs, the door to the reading room was bound in stiff, blue velvet ribbon. The bow in the center was as big and round as a basketball.

Publisher: HarperCollins

Price: $12.95

Age group: 8-12 years