Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Elise, who was nine and a half years old, with perpetually messy brown hair and a voracious passion for reading.
She lived in a small house at the end of a street lined with lime trees, with her parents, her older brother Lucas, and a ginger cat named Balzac who always slept on her books.

It all began on a rainy Wednesday afternoon in October. Elise was at the municipal library, her favorite place in the world. She loved the smell of old paper, the hushed silence between the shelves, and especially Madame Lenoir, the kind librarian with round glasses who always recommended the best books to her.

That day, Elise had settled herself in the most secluded corner of the library, where no one ever went, near the rare books section. She had found an old, dusty collection of fairy tales with a faded green leather cover. On the first page, an illustration depicted a mysterious forest.

As she placed her hand over the image to examine it more closely, something strange happened. The letters in the book began to shimmer like golden fireflies. Her fingers tingled, as if pierced by tiny sparks. And suddenly... *whoosh*! The world tilted around her!

Elise felt herself being sucked in, swirling in a tunnel of words and phrases that danced around her.

Then she landed abruptly on her bottom, in a bed of dead leaves that smelled of autumn.

When she opened her eyes, she couldn't believe it. She was in the forest from the illustration! Huge red mushrooms with white spots surrounded her, as tall as houses. A rainbow butterfly fluttered past her nose. In the distance, she saw a crystal castle sparkling in the golden sunlight.

"By my pocket watch!" suddenly exclaimed a high-pitched voice.

Elise jumped. A white rabbit, dressed in a red vest and indeed holding a golden watch, was looking at her with eyes as round as marbles.

"Another intruder in the books! That's the third one this week!" muttered the rabbit. "What's your name, little one?"

"E... Elise," she stammered, still in shock. "Where am I? How did I get here?"

"You're in the Tale of the Enchanted Forest, of course!" replied the rabbit, tapping his watch. "You have the Gift, like a select few. You can enter books. But be careful, it's not a game! There are rules!"

The rabbit quickly explained: she could explore the worlds of books, but she must never change the main stories. She was like a visitor, a shadow in the margin of the narrative. And to leave, she had to touch the luminous mark that had appeared in the palm of her left hand—a small golden exclamation point—and think very hard about returning.

Elise looked at her hand. The mark shone softly, pulsing like a tiny heart.

"Try it now," the rabbit advised him. "It's better if you practice."

Elise touched the mark and thought with all her might, "I want to go home!" The world started spinning again, and she found herself sitting in her place in the library, the closed book in front of her. Her heart was pounding.

The following weeks were the most extraordinary of Elise's life. She discovered that she could enter any book! Every night, in her room, she traveled to new worlds.

She sailed with the pirates in *Treasure Island*, learning to climb the ship's rigging and sing sea shanties.

She drank theShe had tea with the Mad Hatter and the March Hare in *Alice in Wonderland*. She rode a dragon in a fantasy novel, the wind whipping her face as they flew over snowy mountains.

Each adventure taught her something. In adventure books, she discovered courage. In fairy tales, she understood kindness and perseverance. In detective novels, she honed her powers of observation.

But Elise also learned that she had to be careful. One day, out of curiosity, she opened a horror book her brother had left lying around. She found herself in a terrifying mansion, with menacing shadows gliding along the walls. Panicked, she touched her mark, but... nothing! She was trapped!

That's when she understood a crucial rule: to leave a book, you had to read the ending. Trembling, she had to push through the dark story, chapter after chapter, until she reached the conclusion. When she could finally go home, she was exhausted but had learned a valuable lesson.

Elise kept her secret for months. But one day, in the school library, her best friend Lucie surprised her just as she was disappearing into a book. After a long moment of stunned silence, the two friends looked at each other.

"You're going to think I'm crazy," Elise began.

But Lucie was already smiling. "Show me," she said simply.

Hand in hand, they entered *The Little Prince* together. They sat on asteroid B-612, watered the capricious rose, and listened to the fox talk to them about taming and what is essential and invisible to the eyes.

That day, Elise understood that some secrets are even more beautiful when they are shared.

Today, Elise has a notebook where she records all her literary adventures. She knows that an infinite world awaits her between each cover. She has decided that one day, she will write her own stories. And perhaps another child with the Gift will come to visit her...

Because true magic exists in every page turned, in every word that conjures images. In every story that transports us elsewhere.

And you, if you could step into a book, which one would you choose? 📚✨