Mira tugged at her wild curls and watched the girl with straight hair skip past the bakery. The bell jingled, and Mira's reflection stared back with a flour smudge on her nose. She turned and marched toward the whispering trees.
At the river's edge, Mira pressed her curls flat against a smooth stone. 'Be straight, be straight,' she whispered. The stone hummed and bounced her curls right back up with a loud boing!
Mira groaned and spotted a shimmering leaf that looked like a mirror. She held it up and gasped — her reflection wore three hats stacked like a tower and waddled instead of skipped. A tiny voice whispered, 'What do you see?'
Mira stepped up to the giant Mirror-Tree and held her breath. The tree shimmered and showed her curls glowing like spun gold, her mismatched eyes sparkling, and her flour smudge turning into a tiny painted star.
Mira reached out, and the reflection reached back, tracing the star on her nose with a cool, smooth finger.
Mira skipped back to the bakery, her curls bouncing high and her star-nose bobbing in the sunlight. She spotted the girl with straight hair and called out, 'Look! I have a star on my nose!'
Mira twirled until her dress made a whoosh sound. The girl with straight hair clapped her hands. Mira's star-nose bobbed and her curls caught the sunlight like golden ribbons.
'You're shiny!' the girl said. Mira grinned and twirled again. 'It's my star,' she said. The girl reached out and gently touched the star on Mira's nose.
That evening, Mira looked in the bakery window one last time. Her reflection smiled back — curly hair, mismatched eyes, and a little star on her nose. She didn't tug her hair at all.
Mira walked home, her curls bouncing with every step. The town was full of reflections — in puddles, in windows, in the silver leaves of the forest. All of them showed her, exactly as she was.