Welcome to Stories Come to Life. I am your host, Kathryn Lopez Luker. During this time of Covid, many people aren’t able to use the library in the same way as in the past. To help bring more stories to more readers, many publishing companies are allowing books that are normally unavailable for copyright reasons to be read out loud and shared with others until June 30, 2022. The stories that fall under that special permission will all be taken down on that date, so listen now, while they’re available! Today’s story is shared with permission of Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. In chapters nine and ten of The Summer Sleigh Ride, Margaret, Polly, Emilie, and Belle find themselves in an amazing place. It is like a replica of their own small town, complete with similar buildings and a farm, almost like Emilie’s farm back home. And there is another little girl there, a girl named Clara who can’t remember where she’s come from. All the people in this new place live a very long time, perhaps forever, so they don’t really need any children. The four girls were brought here to be companions to Clara. But if they came in a time machine, as they are beginning to suspect, at least they know it can go both ways! Now sit back, relax, and listen to this story come to life!