"Grace, don't forget your school bag!" Mama called. My bag was old, with patches and faded elephant images, but I loved it.

It held my books, pencils, and secrets. Today, something magical would happen.

At school, I found a tiny packet I'd never seen! Inside was a shiny red seed.

"Plant me," the seed seemed to whisper.

At break time, I buried it under the baobab tree in the compound.

Rumble! The ground shook as vines twisted into a ladder.

"Climb!" the wind whistled. My bag clung to my back as I ascended into the leaves.

At the top, an African green monkey in tiny glasses greeted me. "Welcome to the School of the Forest!" he said.

A giraffe teacher wrote math problems on a chalkboard leaf!

The monkey gave me a woven basket. "Fill it with questions," he said.

I dropped in my loudest wonder: "Why do stars twinkle?" The basket hummed and glowed.

Suddenly, rain roared! "Prove your courage!" the giraffe said.

I opened my bag. My ruler became a bridge, my eraser a boat! We rescued a baby bird trapped in thorns.

When the storm ended, the basket gave me a golden pencil. "Write your own story," the monkey said.

I slid down the vine, back to my schoolyard.

At home, Mama smiled. "Why are your shoes muddy?" I hugged my bag. "It's a secret!"

That night, I wrote in my diary: School bags can take you anywhere.