The Upside-Down Day

Nia woke up and found socks on the ears and slippers on the hands. “That’s odd,” said Nia. Downstairs, dinner was on the table, and it was morning!

(Switch the animal sounds and use silly voices.)

Outside, the rooster crowed “moo.” The cow said “cock-a-doodle-doo.” Fish flapped in the sky, and the birds swam in the pond. “The whole village is upside down!” gasped Nia.

Then Nia noticed a trail of sparkly dust drifting along the lane. Nia followed it, over the bridge, past the bakery, all the way to the old clock tower.

The big clock was running backwards, tick, tock, tick, tock, and its hands whirled the wrong way. Inside, a tiny clockmaker mouse was stuck among the gears.

(Use a tiny, worried squeak for the mouse.)

“I dropped my wrench,” squeaked the mouse, “and now the gears are jammed. Every tick is going the wrong way!”

Nia climbed the winding stairs, step by step by step, reached carefully into the gears, found the wrench, and passed it up to the mouse.

The mouse tightened the last gear. Clink! The clock shuddered, whirred, and began to tick the right way. Tick, tock. The rooster crowed properly, the fish splashed back into the pond, and Nia’s socks hopped back to Nia’s feet.

(Slow right down for the last page.)

“What a day,” giggled Nia, and walked home as the sun went down, the right way up. In bed, with the blanket tucked up to the chin, Nia yawned. “Goodnight, right-side-up world.” Goodnight, Nia. Goodnight, you.