The Extra Step Mystery
Maya can feel one more step on the staircase than she can count. Nobody believes her, except her cat Muffin.
Ages 4 to 64 minute read10 illustrated pages
Maya walked to the wooden staircase. Her cat, Muffin, was already there. "Meow?" Muffin looked up at Maya with curious golden yellow eyes.
Maya began to walk up the wooden staircase. One step, two steps, three. Then her foot felt something strange. It was like an extra step was there, but she could not see it.
Maya tried to count the steps again. One, two, three, four, five. She felt the bump, but the number was still five. Maya wondered what was happening.
Later, Clara walked by. "Clara!" Maya called. "The wooden staircase has an extra step!" Clara smiled but did not seem to understand.
Clara walked up the wooden staircase. She went one step, two steps, three. Clara did not feel anything different. "It feels fine to me," she said.
Maya felt a little worried then. Was she just imagining things? She watched Muffin. Muffin always paused at that one spot, right before the strange bump.
Maya decided to try it again. She put her foot out very slowly. She looked closely at the blue carpet runner. She wanted to see if Muffin was right.
Maya stepped and her foot went down. Then she felt it again! It was a small, soft rise. It was like one more step was there, but she could not see it at all!
Maya turned to Muffin. "You felt it too, Muffin!" she whispered. Muffin purred a happy purr. It was their own special secret.
Now, Maya knew the secret of the extra step. Every time she went up the wooden staircase, she smiled. It was a little bit of magic, just for her and Muffin.
The end.
Talk about it after reading
- Why did Clara not feel the extra step?
- How did Muffin help Maya know she was right?
- Is there a spot in your house that feels a little magic?
Where this story came from
Every Storybox story starts with one idea, said out loud. This one started with:
“The staircase with one extra invisible step.”
Your child can do the same. They say what they want the story to be about, and Storybox writes and illustrates a picture book like this one in about a minute.
Get Storybox for iPhone and iPadHow it was made: Storybox wrote and illustrated this story with AI from the idea above. Our team picked it for the free library and edited the text by hand.
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