Today, we are featuring Inklings Book Contest 2024 author Annabelle Gratry! She finished 4th grade this past school year and wrote a suspenseful story called “Sucked in Seuss”. One judge said that Annabelle is “a gifted writer who is able to draw you into the story very early on”. Continue below to enjoy her story in digital book or plain text form.
Poof! A memory popped up in Cherry’s mind as she was reading Seuss Tales, the book that she had gotten sucked into last year.
It all started when Cherry was trying to find a book to read…
“Time for bed! Cherry!”
“But Mom, I’m trying to pick out a book. Also, I’m turning eleven tomorrow, I can stay up at least ‘till 9:00!” Cherry called.
“You were supposed to do that ten minutes ago, and it’s 9:15!” yelled her mother.
“I’m sorry! There are just so many different books to choose from!”
“Fine, you can have five more minutes. FIVE!” boomed her mother.
Cherry’s mother had been very protective over Cherry ever since Cherry’s dad and little brother had disappeared when she was about five.
“Kay, thanks Mom! Oh hey, one of my favorites!”
As soon as Cherry opened the book, she knew something was wrong with the moving characters on the page and the fact that every picture and every word was starting to come to life. She was getting sucked into the world of Seuss!
“What the-AHHHHHHHH!!!!” Cherry screamed.
Cherry could hear her mom calling, “Cherry your time’s up! Cherry…Cherry where are you?”
“Mom? Mom is that you? Mooooom I’m in here! Heeeelp!” screamed Cherry frantically. Cherry had no idea what or why this was happening. If Cherry’s mom had been there, she would be able to tell by the look on Cherry’s face.
She had read Seuss Tales so many times and nothing like this had ever happened. The next thing she knew, she saw two mysterious figures walking up to her and Cherry scrambled to her feet to run away. But as the figures started getting nearer, they came into focus.
“DAD?!!!”
“Hi, sweetie!” her dad exclaimed joyfully.
“I’m here too, you know,” the other figure reminded Cherry.
“Who are you?” questioned Cherry.
She didn’t recognize Jack until her dad reminded her, “This is YOUR BROTHER, Cherry!”
“Oh my gosh! You’ve grown so much Jack!” Cherry commented. “Wait, what are you guys doing here?”
“When I was reading this book to your brother when he was almost three, we got sucked in and we’ve been here ever since!” yelled Cherry’s dad.
“You mean there’s no way out!?” screamed Cherry worriedly.
“No, we just didn’t get there in time,” said her brother.
“What?” asked Cherry.
“There’s a portal but you only have an hour to get there!” said Cherry’s dad.
“We didn’t get there in time,” added Cherry’s brother.
“I have one more question: why did I get sucked into this book THIS time??” Cherry asked.
“Because we wanted to see you!” blurted Cherry’s brother and dad.
“Yeah. But why this time?” asked Cherry. “I’ve read this book so many times!”
“We did it this time because it’s your birthday tomorrow!!” said Cherry’s brother.
“So… happy birthday! I can’t believe you’re turning ten!!” yelled Cherry’s dad excitedly.
“Thanks, but I’m turning eleven,” mumbled Cherry, feeling embarrassed.
“Oh Cherry, I’m your dad and I don’t even know how old you are!”
“It’s okay dad. You’ve been stuck here, so how COULD you know how old I’m turning. Plus, you were only off by a year.”
“You’re growing so much, Cherry!” cried her brother.
“Jack, your sister is only turning eleven? She looks like she’s twelve!” cried a turtle that had just appeared.
“Ummm… Why is there a talking turtle standing in front of me?” asked Cherry.
“Oh, that’s just Yertle the Turtle,” said Cherry’s brother.
“Seriously?! I love Yertle the Turtle! I’ve read that book more than I’ve read this book! I mean sure he is a little greedy, but I-”
“Okay Cherry, we get it,” said Cherry’s brother, feeling annoyed.
“Anyways, if I want to get home, we better start looking for that portal now,” said Cherry’s brother after Cherry gave him a scowl.
As they were walking they saw an elephant, and then the next thing they knew the elephant said, “Hi! I’m Horton!”
“Wait you’re Horton?! From Horton Hears a Who?!” Cherry asked excitedly.
“You got that right!” said Horton.
“I love that book, but I love this book more because it has a bunch of different Dr. Seuss stories!” screamed Cherry excitedly.
Horton looked a little overwhelmed.
Then Cherry’s brother said, “Sorry Hort-o. She’s a big fan.”
“No worries! I love to meet my fans! Especially when they’re my BFF’s younger sister!” said Horton.
Cherry’s mouth fell so far that she could fit a table in it.
“Well we better keep going!” said Cherry’s brother, a little embarrassed.
“Horton the Elephant is your best friend?!” asked Cherry.
“Duh!! Dad and I have been stuck here for over ten years!! We know everybody around here!” her brother pointed out.
“That’s a good point!” said Cherry.
“Look there’s Amazing Mayzie!” yelled Cherry’s brother.
“What’s so great about Amazing Mayzie?” asked Cherry. “She’s just a show-off!”
“How dare you say that about May-May!” said Cherry’s brother.
“May-May? Why are you acting so weird?” asked Cherry.
“I’m not!” said Cherry’s brother (who was very mad now).
“Then why do you call her May-May?!” asked Cherry.
“Because we are best friends. I have nick-names for all of my BFFs,” said Cherry’s brother.
“That makes sense,” said Cherry.
“Let’s go say hi,” said Cherry’s brother.
“No, we don’t have time for another stop!!” screamed Cherry. But unfortunately that caught Mayzie’s attention. She looked their way. Cherry frowned.
“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” asked Mayzie.
Cherry didn’t think she was actually asking. She thought it was pretty clear who was there.
“Your BFF and his family, that’s who!” yelled her brother.
“It’s so good to see you, Jay-Jay!” shouted Mayzie.
“Guys, we only have five minutes left until my time is up!” screamed Cherry.
“Sorry May-May, we have to go. My sister is trying to find the portal so she can go back to the real world,” said Cherry’s brother sadly.
“Cherry look, I see the portal!” called Cherry’s dad, already running towards it.
“Well, I guess this is goodbye, but you can suck me back in here anytime you want, as long as I give you a thumbs up first,” said Cherry, feeling disappointed.
“We’ll miss you Cherry,” cried Cherry’s dad.
“Hurry, you only have a couple minutes left!!” yelled Cherry’s brother.
“Oh, so you want me to leave,” joked Cherry.
“Of course I don’t!! I’m just saying that if you want to get home you better hurry!” yelled Cherry’s brother.
“Oh chill out! I was kidding!!” said Cherry.
“Goodbye,” sniffed Cherry’s dad.
“No. This isn’t a ‘goodbye’. But it is a ‘see you soon’ and I will see you soon. I hope you’ll be okay without me! I love you.” As Cherry promised herself that she would never forget what just happened, she took one step through the portal, and appeared in her room.
“Cherry!!!! I was so worried, where were you?!” screamed her mother frantically.
“I’m fine. Let’s just say I had an adventure,” said Cherry, happy she was home but sad she had to leave her dad and brother.
Cherry’s mom looked confused. “Ooooookaaaaayy. Well, it’s time for bed now!” she said, trying to change the subject.
“Okay, Mom,” said Cherry.
You know, maybe being home won’t be so bad! she thought…
“Cherry!! Cherry! Ah, thank goodness you’re out of your head!” screamed Cherry’s teacher.
“Oh! Sorry Mrs. Loma! I just had a flashback!” said Cherry, kind of embarrassed that the whole class was staring at her.
“Well it’s time for writing! Get out your writing journal and put away your book. It’s not reading time anymore!”
As Cherry got out her writing journal, she looked back on the time she got sucked into Seuss Tales, and realized how lucky she was to have gotten to see her dad, brother, and all of her favorite characters! But she had no idea how much adventure was in the shadows, creeping toward her.
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