I'm Alison Brie, and today I'm going to read The Magician's Hat, written by Malcolm Mitchell and illustrated by Joanne Louvretoff.

Family fun day at the library was filled with exciting events.

Book scavenger hunts, storytelling, reading rallies.

Today, for the first time, a magician arrived with a bag of tricks and a big hat.

Everyone gathered around to see the magician perform.

He bent a spoon just by looking at it.

He made playing cards float in front of his nose.

The magician could even make a coin appear from a puppy's ear.

When he waved his wand, a banana vanished.

This was just the warm-up act.

Now, the magician was ready to dazzle the crowd with his favorite trick of all.

The magician's magic started with a story.

When I was a kid, my mom and dad brought me to this library on family fun day.

During the book scavenger hunt, I wandered into the reading room.

There were hundreds of books.

Books about dogs, books about planes, books about the sun, flowers, rain, cities, and circus dancers.

Out of the hundreds of books, one special book jumped out at me.

It was a book about magic.

I read and read and read.

Every single word on every single page.

I discovered that book wasn't just about magic.

I learned that books are magic.

Even though I was still in the library, those pages and words took me places I had always dreamed of going.

This is how I knew I wanted to become a magician when I grew up.

Soon after that, I got my magician's hat.

The family fun day crowd had grown.

Kids from all over town were eager to see more of the magician's magic.

He asked them, What do you want to be when you grow up?

Amy shouted, I want to be a dentist!

The magician invited Amy to reach inside his hat.

Amy dug deep, then deeper, until she felt something.

It's, it's a book!

Amy shouted.

The magician asked, What is your book about?

My book's about teeth!

Cleaning teeth, and fixing teeth, and x-rays!

Right away, like magic, Amy saw herself holding dental tools, a toothbrush, and a rinsing cup.

But in the library, where everyone could see, Amy was hugging her book and smiling.

Matt had been watching closely.

After seeing Amy's magic, he wondered, What else is in that hat?

He called out, I want to be a famous football player!

And so, the magician offered Matt his hat.

Let's see what magic you can find inside.

Matt reached in, way down.

There was something that couldn't fit into just one hand.

Matt plunged both hands into the hat, and pulled!

It's a book about football!

It even has my name on it!

All at once, like magic, Matt was on the field.

Running.

Tackling.

Catching.

Punting.

Sometimes fumbling.

Sometimes balling.

Lots of times, winning.

Ryan called out from the back of the crowd, Wait a second!

This is not magic!

Amy's and Matt's parents must have told the magician what they want to be when they grow up.

The magician asked Ryan, What do you want to be when you grow up?

This was Ryan's chance to prove that the magician was a fake.

He snickered and said, A dog!

The magician asked Ryan to reach into his magical hat.

Ryan said, I can't feel anything!

Sometimes, you must really reach and stretch for what you want to be.

That's part of the magic.

Ryan reached deeper and deeper until his fingers grabbed onto something.

He clutched a beautiful book that had nothing to do with dogs.

Its pages were filled with letters and paintings and photos and foldouts.

Stars.

Planets.

Rocket ships.

Ryan had always dreamed of becoming an astronaut and exploring the wide open sky.

Hurdling into outer space and zooming to a far off galaxy.

Whoa!

Whispered Ryan.

How did you do that?

I'm not doing anything.

The magician said, You are.

I am?

Asked Ryan.

But there's gotta be a secret trick in those books.

The desires that are within you bring out the magic in these books.

Follow your dreams and they will take you wherever you want to go.

The magician turned his hat so everyone could see inside.

What are your dreams?

That question made all kinds of magic appear.

Wow.

I loved that.

I loved that book.

It's really a book about the magic of books and how when you read, books can take you anywhere in the world.

They can take you anywhere that you can imagine.

And you can really use books to learn more about the things that you're excited about.

And by using your imagination, you really can go anywhere, dream up anything, explore anything you want to explore.

And that is really cool.

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