Ava's Room by Kathy Kelly

Chapter 1
Making New Friends

Ava pushes open the door to her bedroom. She skips, hops and skips again. Up on her bed are two of Ava’s favorite dolls. “There you are!” she says. “I’ve been looking all over for you.” Ava drags the stepstool to the side of the overstuffed mattress.

Clunk, clunk, clunk.

“Thank goodness for you,” Ava says to her stepstool. She knows she couldn’t make it to the top of her fluffy bed without it. Ava climbs up the bed, gathers her dolls, and pauses for a moment. What a wonderful view from up here! Even with the wispy, white canopy draped around the bed, Ava can clearly see every corner of her room.

As Ava gazes to one side of the room, she sees her big white rocking chair. Ava smiles as she remembers her mother rocking and reading to her in that chair. Just to the other side of the chair is Ava’s bookcase. The bottom shelves hold her favorite books. Ava’s Mermaid Collection is on the middle shelf. The prized possession on this shelf is a scale from a mermaid’s tail that Ava found on the beach.

On the very top shelf is Ava’s stuffed animal menagerie. Ava loves stuffed animals.
She cherishes each one so much she can’t bear to get rid of one. Needless to say, the shelf is overflowing with furry animals. Looking at her bookcase makes Ava so happy.

Bounce, bounce, bounce.

Ava jumps on her bright yellow comforter. She bounces up and down until she falls
down on her back, panting out of breath. Ava rests for just a moment.

While Ava is lying on her bed, she watches the sun come through the sheer white curtains that hang over the big window at the top of her bed. The stream of sunlight shines across the bed and Ava follows it with her eyes to the floor, where it makes a pool of light on the rug. Ava plops on the edge of the bed then plops onto the floor into the light. She loves the way the shimmering sun feels on her face. She swirls around and around, dancing in the glow, twirling in circles until she is dizzy.

Ava sprawls on the floor and stares up at the stuffed animals on her shelf. The sunlight fades all around her, and she is sure that even a princess would love this room. Ava hears a rattle. She sits up and looks around.

Scrape, scratch, scritch.

She goes over to the bookcase. Not a twitch. She wrinkles her brow. Ava is sure this is where the noise came from.
“Whatcha looking at?” says a fluffy white bunny. Ava’s mouth forms a little o.

“Um, why I suppose I’m looking at you.” She moves so close to the bunny that his whiskers tickle her nose.

“That tickles,” says the bunny as he sniffs Ava and twitches his nose.

“Do you talk to everyone?” asks Ava.

“Not usually,” answers the bunny. Then he flinches as Ava pokes his round, little belly.

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