Adi's World

By Jo-Marie

Have you ever imagined what it would be like to live in a sugar maple tree? Your whole village lives inside the trees trunk and branches. How tall are you? What is your home like? Does your bedroom have windows? Where do you go to school? Does your school have a playground?

What if one day a branch on your schools playground cracks open? This branch is high in the air. What danger does this crack bring to your school and community? What if the adults in your community cant solve the problem? What will you and your classmates do? Will you think of ways to help your community? Who will lead this important project? Will you solve the mystery of how the crack happened and why? What if things go wrong?

Adi faces these problems with the help of her friends and a very special person. Through His help and guidance, Adi finds courage she doesnt know she has. Adi learns to answer His question: Who are you, Adi?

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jul 17, 2013
• ISBN: 9781449794156

Jo-Marie

Jo-Marie is a full-time author for the Adi’s World book series. Her first two books, Adi’s World and Living the Secret, are now in print. The final book of her first series should be in print later this year. Jo-Marie lives in Goodyear, Arizona. She is married and the mother of two great adult sons. She taught elementary school for twenty-four years in Illinois and Arizona, retiring in June of 2014. She is now an indie author, currently working with Westbow Press. She is also the owner of her own business, Jo’s Journey, LLC. Jo-Marie loves visiting schools and book stores to do presentations about writing, being an author, and, of course, her own books. Jo-Marie began writing her first book at the urging of her former fifth-grade students, whom she always told that they had to live their dreams. One class challenged her to write Adi’s World, which had been Jo’s dream for over thirty years. You can learn more about Jo-Marie and her books through her website: www.josjourney.com You can follow JosJourneyBooks on Twitter, Google Plus, and Facebook.

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Adi’s World

Jo-Marie

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Copyright © 2013 Jo-Marie Mlsek.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

WestBow Press books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4497-9416-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-9417-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-9415-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013908042

WestBow Press rev. date: 7/16/2013

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Table of Contents

Prologue: Twenty Years Ago

Two Miunets and One Point Ahead!

We Are Amazing

Getting an Idea

Friendship Gets You Through

Feeling Lost and Alone and They Don’t Help

Sharing the News of the Day

Why Is This Happening?

The Worst School Day Ever

Losing Addy

Meeting Arnie

One Monath Later

Not the Smartest Move

Are You Kidding Me?

A Special Day of Remembering

Problems Really Starting

Now What Will Happen?

Learning about Each Other

Solutions Should Solve Problems

Adi Starts Thinking

The Weaving Begins and Goes On and On and Oh No!

Time to Face the Music, Though I Don’t Like the Tune

Buds Blooming and Tempers Flaring

The Time Has Come

Fund-Raising Abounds and Then Goes Awry

Let’s Tap These Veins

It’s Storytime

Hole in a Bucket and Sap Shampoo

Back to Collecting

Secret Plans and Action Time

We Really Did It!

One More Mystery

Another Adventure: Ayden and Jayden

ADI Phrases

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live inside a tree? Visit Adi’s World and find out!

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Welcome to Maple Community

To the Lord. Thank You for bringing this dream to reality. May the story within these pages show Your love in my life.

*****

To the real Arnie in my life. You taught me to believe in myself, reach for my dreams, and work hard to make my dreams become reality. Thank you for walking with me on this journey. Thank you Mo, my friend, coach, & business manager.

You will always be Adi’s Arnie.

*****

To the real Ayden and Jayden. Your stories will soon be told.

*****

To all my friends and family who read and critiqued the various stages of my first book.

*****

To the student citizens of United Kidville and Golden Star City who were such tough critics and great audiences.

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CHARACTER LIST

Adi Bough, an eighth-grade girl

Addy Branch, Adi’s close friend

Michael, Adi’s guide

Arnie Fern, Adi’s new school friend

Bendo Bough, Adi’s older brother, in upper school

Mr. Ralph and Mrs. May Bough, Adi’s parents

Mr. Brandon Fern and Mrs. Rebecca Fern, Arnie’s parents

Brandon and Becka Fern, Arnie’s younger siblings

Ayden and Jayden Limb, twins in Adi’s class

Uncle Lee, uncle of Jayden and Ayden

Mrs. Lea Limb, mom of Jayden and Ayden, Lee’s twin

Mr. Craig Poplar, eighth-grade teacher

Ms. Ash, principal of Adi’s school

Mr. Leaf, senior civil engineer

Mrs. Leaf, third-grade teacher and mom of Doc Leaf

Mayor Maple, mayor of Maple Community

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TREE PICTURE LEGEND

#1 = Business section of Maple Community (mayor’s office, all shops, town library, and so forth)

Branch A

#2 = Adi’s home

Branch B

#3 = notch where Michael sits

#4 = Adi’s school

#5 = School playground

#6 = notch where Adi and Addy sat for lunch

#7 = Crack in branch

#8 = Adi’s sap collecting station and Lee’s storage area

#9 = Temporary classroom

Branch C

#10 = Upper Branch school

Branch D

#11 = Arnie’s home

#12 = Twins’ home

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A FEW THINGS

EVERY READER SHOULD KNOW

The citizens of Maple Community actually live inside of their tree. However, they are not magical beings. They can’t simply make things move, appear, or disappear. In many ways, they are just like you and me, except way smaller. They look very much like we do. Their language is quite similar to that of the people who live outside their tree. However, a few of their words do sound somewhat different:

Almost everything they have and use is made from parts of the tree—the bark, pulp, leaves, and veins running through the tree. They are able to get things from the world outside, but being so tiny makes that quite a challenge. Of course, living inside a tree means they must do some things at least a bit differently.

One thing for sure, starting a fire when your world is made of wood is not a good thing to do. Neither is making a hole in the bottom of one of the highest branches in the tree.

Welcome to Adi’s World.

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PROLOGUE:

TWENTY YEARS AGO

I just can’t keep living inside this sugar maple tree! Lee explodes as he stomps out of his eighth-year classroom. This place is way too boring for me. I don’t care that the tree is deciduous and drops its leaves or it grows yellow flowers in the spring. Lee throws his rucksack to the ground. "I really don’t care that the leaves change from summer green to autumn red, yellow, or orange or our dark brown bark has ridges and grooves because the tree is so very old.

Lee momentarily plops onto the back steps of Maple Basic School and looks over the playground. He knows he’s about to make a decision that will change his life forever. A miunet later, he hears his classmates starting to leave the building. Lee quickly grabs his stuff and starts walking across the playfield behind his school.

It means nothing to me that we use the dropped leaves in so many ways inside our tree. Who cares about leaf curtains, crumbled leaf walkways, and other boring leaf stuff? And no, I do not want a job as a leaf collector. Going outside the trunk and hauling leaves through the base of our trunk into the crumbling unit is not my idea of an exciting life. And the fact that this tree is extremely tall and still growing makes me want to scream!

Lee bends down and picks up a handful of leaf crumbles. He looks at them carefully. Am I about to do a good thing? Suddenly, he throws the crumbles over his shoulder, sighs, and continues walking.

And while I do love the maple syrup that’s made from the sap flowing through veins growing inside our exterior walls, I’m tired of learning boring facts about this stupid tree! In every grade, we always have to do an entire monath-long unit about this place. And wow, we took a class trip outside last year and got to climb from the tree’s base to the first branches. Whoopee! And this was supposed to make me love this place? I’m sick of living inside this tree. Everyone in this community says it’s such a great place to live, but to me, it’s a prison. I’m locked in with no way out!

Lee reaches the end of the school playground and turns toward his favorite limb, his secret spot.It’s time for me to go. I want to live in the outside world. Lee still thinks aloud, Okay, Jonathon, I still haven’t figured out who you are, but you told me you’d always be around to help me. You gave me your book of drawings of the world outside this tree. It showed me what it’s like outside Maple Community. You never told me who drew those pictures, but I think it was you.

Lee stops walking and looks at a spot where he and Lea, his twin sister, sometimes sit to get away from the other kids. Lee slowly runs his hand over the knot in the wood where Lea likes to sit, remembering that he had smoothed that knot two years earlier, making it a more comfortable seat for her.

Reading your book, Jonathon, made me want to explore the outside world. I hope you don’t mind that I left your book with Lea. It may help her figure out where I went. I don’t have the guts to tell her, and I didn’t want her to talk me out of going.

Lee goes on talking to himself as he walks further away from the playground, Lea, my dear twin, I think you understand. You know me better than anyone else does. We both heard all of Dad’s warnings telling us how dangerous life is outside this tree. Yet he works out there every day. Don’t get me wrong. I’m proud of the work he does, climbing up and down the trunk, checking for possible problems or cracks in the trunk and branches. Dad and his team help keep this world safe.

Lee rubs his hand on the inside wall of the limb, knowing he’ll probably never touch the inside of this tree again. He shrugs and continues walking.

Dad gets to see a lot when he’s outside. He said there are people who look just like us, except they are huge! He called them ginats. I wonder if their body covers look the same as ours do. Dad said they didn’t. I bet theirs aren’t made from blended bark and leaf crumbles. Everything in here is made from the same things, basic materials. I wonder if there are more things outside that people can use.

Lee stops walking, leans against the tree wall, and grins. He can visualize Lea standing in front of him, wearing the unique smile she always wears when listening to her twin.

Lea, do you remember that night when neither of us could sleep because the outside wind was making our branch sway? Dad sat with us and told us how that ginat almost saw him. Everyone who works outside the tree is always told to stay hidden from them. Dad said they might hurt us if they find out we’re here. Dad was so talkative that night. He really described those two ginats. I can still close my eyes and see them clearly. It’s odd that we look the same, just very different sizes. This is something I must see for myself. Lee nods his head and moves on more confidently.

Lee arrives in his secret spot, turns left, and bends low to enter the area. Lea, do you think the ginats are evil? I don’t. But I think we could be hurt just because they’re so big. I don’t ever want a huge hand grabbing me. Dad says the only way we can protect ourselves is to stay hidden from them.

Lee moves aside leaf crumbles that are hiding his sack of tools. He picks up his sack and continues walking.

Dad told us that he could somewhat understand them. Some of their words were familiar. Their words were similar to what we say, but still a different language. Just very, very loud! I think that’s because of their size. Do you think they know about us? I don’t. Do they realize that tree branches are actually hollow? And we build our homes and shops inside them? After all, if they knew there were communities of people looking like them, just a smaller form, living inside every tree, I don’t think they’d chop down trees. And we all know the ginats do that, especially the fir trees in the cold time. It’s a good thing the fir trees have solid trunks and branches so no one can live inside them. I wonder what those ginats would say if families came running out when a fir tree they chop comes falling down. That would be ghastly! Lea, I’m going to learn all about these ginats. I bet they are more like us than we realize. Maybe the only difference is size.

Hey, twin. Lee leans against the stump where he and Lea usually ate lunch. Do you remember when I chipped out these holes? Lee looks up at the limb’s ceiling, noticing the wooden plugs that closed his holes. You wanted outside light so I said I’d get it for you. Getting a week’s in-school suspension for chiseling through the tree’s bark wasn’t fun, but it was worth it. Seeing you sit on our lunch stump looking up and smiling was great. Lea, you know I’d do anything for you. I hope you won’t be too mad at me for getting out of here.

Lee sits on the stump and sighs. I had hoped to sneak out of the lower tunnels, you know, the ones that connect us to the other trees, but ever since that creature they called a gofum cracked the shell of the root tunnel to Oakville, the tunnel watchers keep those places guarded constantly. So that escape route was blocked.

Lee rises, dusts off the seat of his pants, and walks further into the branch.

My next idea was to use one of the maintenance doors, the ones at the base of each branch. That would get me out, and I’d just have to crawl down the trunk. I think you figured out that I took Dad’s old set of climbing tools. Mom didn’t donate them as Dad thought she did. I’m sorry I caused that big fight between them. I really just want to get out here. Thanks for not telling on me.

"I think you want to check out that thing Dad told us about, the one that moves in the air. He said one ginat pointed it out to the other and called it ‘bird.’ Dad said it was over ten times bigger than he was. I