Milo's mom hands him a box wrapped in blue paper with a bright yellow bow. "Go ahead and open it," she says. His fingers find the edge of the paper.
He tears the blue paper and finds a real book inside. The hardcover has a shiny gold title that shimmers. Milo's eyes grow wide with surprise.
He opens the book and points at a word: "ba-ba-bear." The black letters squirm and wiggle on the cream-colored page. Milo blinks and leans in closer.
Milo points to another word and tries to sound it out. "Whis-per." The word comes out wrong. "Whis-per" again, still wrong. His eyebrows scrunch together in thought.
He takes a deep breath and tries once more. "Whisper!" The word comes out perfect. Milo says it over and over until his face turns bright pink.
Milo closes the book with a loud THUMP. He sets it on the floor and sits cross-legged, staring up at the ceiling. His finger taps his chin.
After a quiet minute, Milo picks the book back up from the floor. He opens it to the same page and points at a very long word.
"Un-believ-able," he reads slowly, one piece at a time. Then faster. Then even faster. His finger slides under each word as he reads it three more times.
Milo reads the whole sentence out loud all by himself. He doesn't stop and he doesn't stumble. His eyes go wide and a big grin breaks across his face.
"I did it," he thinks. The soft lamp glows warm on his face as he turns the next page. He keeps reading, one word after another.