by Holly Anna
Gabby smiles. “That was my wish from the well! But how did you know that?”
“Um, lucky guess?” I suggest, and all the guests laugh.
“What about me?” asks Carol. “Can you guess my wish from the well?”
“Sure,” I say. “You wished you could talk to animals.”
“How…,” she says with a giggle. “How could you know that?”
“Everyone knows that,” admits Gabby. “You tell it to anyone who will listen.”
Then I shrug and wrinkle my nose. “But there was a teensy problem with your wish, Carol,” I add.
“There was once a pack of squirrels that found out that you could talk to animals, and they had tons of questions to ask you,” I told her. “Be careful what you wish for, I guess.”
The room shrieks with laughter. Then I turn to John Gates.
“It wasn’t just Carol. John, you wished you could fly, but then you couldn’t get back on the ground! And Wren Sinclair wished for a million cats, but that meant she had to clean up after a million cats.”
Wren covers her mouth with her hand, and the rest of the kids fall on one another with laughter.
“So you see,” I go on, “the wishes made everything out of control. Posey tried to reverse the wishes, but he only made them more powerful.”
Everyone’s eyes are fixed on me.
“What happened next, Daisy?” Gabby asks, looking a little scared.
“Luckily, there was only one person in the whole town who had never made a wish at the well,” I say.
“WHO?” the group asks.
“Me,” I say with a smile. “I flipped a coin into the well and wished for everything to go back to normal. And—sha-zing!—all the wishes disappeared and the madness stopped! The end!”
All the guests clap for my story. And suddenly the day feels magic again.
CHAPTER SEVEN Surprise!
I wake up the next morning and feel like I’ve been dreaming for days. What if I have? What if this was all a dream?
I jump out of bed and grab an erasable marker from my desk. Then I draw a door on the wall—right next to my bedroom door.
Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!
I knock on my freshly drawn door.
Posey almost always answers when I knock on a drawn door.
Sir Pounce watches and waits too. I knock again, louder this time. I put my ear to the door and… I hear footsteps.
“Daisy?” a voice calls out. “Daisy Dreamer!”
A door opens, but it’s not my hand-drawn door. It’s my bedroom door. My grandmother peeks inside.
“I didn’t mean to wake you,” Upsy says. “Since you are up, I’d love to take you out for breakfast.”
The word “breakfast” makes my stomach growl out loud, which makes Upsy and me both laugh.
“Of course!” I say. “I’d love to have breakfast with you, Upsy! Let me get changed.”
As I run to my dresser, I take one last peek at the door on the wall. There’s still no sign of Posey.
Then I realize something new. Maybe Upsy will have an answer!
CHAPTER EIGHT The Letter
Upsy takes me to my favorite breakfast spot—the Flapjack Shack. I order a sticky stack of chocolate chip pancakes. I poke at my pancakes with my fork. I’m hungry, but I don’t feel like eating.
“What’s the matter, Daisy?”
I sip my water.
“Oh, nothing…,” I say.
Upsy rests her hand on my arm. “I can tell something’s wrong. And maybe I can help.”
I sigh.
“Okay,” I begin. “The trouble is my imaginary friend, Posey. He’s gone missing. We used to have adventures together all the time. He was even planning a special Daisy Dream Day for me. But now I’m beginning to think Posey is all in my imagination, and I’m all mixed up.”
Upsy gets very quiet, but I can tell she’s trying to figure out what to say. She probably thinks I’m being silly, like a little kid, so I try to erase what I said.
“Never mind, Upsy,” I tell her. “I mean, all this make-believe stuff is so babyish. Forget I said anything.”
But Upsy shakes her head.
“It’s not babyish, Daisy,” she says. “Imaginations make the impossible possible. Once upon a time, people only imagined flying like birds, and then they invented airplanes. People also dreamed about going to the moon, and then they really walked on the moon!”
Next Upsy pulls a piece of paper from her purse.
“Do you remember this letter?” she asks, handing it to me.
“Of course I remember it,” I say. “I’m the one who wrote it!”
I had written Upsy a letter and given her a story starter when I was trying to help a new friend in the World of Make-Believe. The story starter was There once was a magical friend named Sweetheart.…
On the back of the letter I made a dot-to-dot drawing of the Sparkle Fairy.
I hold up the letter.
“Posey was the one who delivered this letter to you!” I say. “This is proof that my Posey adventures were real!”
“Well, almost real,” Upsy says with a wink. “Now it’s time to wake up, Miss Daisy Dreamer!”
CHAPTER NINE Rise and Shine
And then I do wake up. I’m in my own bed. But wait… I’m not in my own room. And I’m not alone!
“Is that you, Sir Pounce?” I call.
Then I see my beloved purple friend.
“Nope. It’s me!” he cheers.
“POSEY!” I shout. “It’s SO good to see you!”
Posey smiles and then turns away.
“Hey, everyone! Look!” he shouts. “Daisy’s awake! Let’s get this Dream Day started!”
Posey bounces over and pulls me out of bed.
“Come on, Daisy Dreamer! I have something to show you!”
Posey leads me to a giant playroom. Twinkly lights dot the ceiling like starry gems. I see indoor swings, a dance floor, and a live band. There are round tables with party hats, noisemakers, and bouquets of lighted balloons.
But best of all, I see everyone I invited to my party! There’s Jasmine and her lost-and-now-found Imaginary, KitCat. And there’s Lily and Upsy with their Sparkle Fairies! And I see Pretty Pixies! Hot-Toppers! Snow-nimals! And Naklin, my yeti friend.
Then Posey jumps onto the stage and grabs the microphone.
“Welcome to Daisy’s Dream Day! Daisy has a spectacular imagination. She is not only part of what makes the WOM magical—she makes it real for everyone. Thanks, Daisy. Now let’s get this party started!”
Then everyone cheers! And I cheer too because who doesn’t like a party with all your friends—real and imaginary?! Obviously.
This is truly a Daisy Dream come true.
CHAPTER TEN The Real Deal
I try a little bit of everything. I have a Daisy Dreamsicle, which is an orange Popsicle with vanilla-cream daisies. I take one sticky bite of a caramel apple, two nibbles of a popcorn ball, and two huge chomp-er-oos of one of my fizzy cupcakes. Then I offer treats to all my friends! Once we’ve eaten, it’s time for the games to begin!
Now I’m ready to motor. I play glow-in-the-dark hopscotch games with Jasmine. I hop on the indoor swings with Lily. And I boogie on the dance floor with all my WOM friends.
Then Posey waves for me to follow him outside.
“How do you like your Daisy Dream Day?” Posey asks.
I lean back and sigh happily. “It’s the dreamiest,” I say.
The World of Make-Believe stretches out before us. It sparkles with colors that I can’t even describe. Cloud Critters wave to us as they float through the sky.
It’s almost too good to be true.
“Posey, I had a really bad dream this week—or, at least, I think it was a dream,” I begin. “I dreamed that you were just in my imagination. That none of our adventures were real.”
Posey smiles warmly and says, “Daisy, don’t you know… your imagination is one-hundred-percent real! Everyone’s imagination is
real. Our imagination is what makes us special. It makes us one of a kind.”
Then Posey points to the valleys, lakes, and mountains beyond.
“Just look, Daisy! This is your World of Make-Believe!” he cries. “There are millions of others, but this one is yours! We can go wherever we want! We can meet whoever we’d like! So where do you want to dream next?”
I feel a huge smile bloom on my face. I reach out and grab Posey’s hand.
“Anywhere,” I say. “So long as I’m with you.”
And suddenly I know in my heart that Posey and the WOM are real because they are a part of me. And they will always be a part of me…
… no matter how grown-up I get.
More from this Series
Daisy Dreamer and the…
Book 1
Daisy Dreamer and the…
Book 2
Sparkle Fairies and the…
Book 3
The Not-So-Pretty Pixies
Book 4
The Ice Castle
Book 5
The Wishing-Well Spell
Book 6
ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR
Holly Anna has always had a wild imagination. When she was little, she used to doodle drawings that would transport herself and her friends to a wonderful world of make-believe. Now she visits other worlds through writing. Holly lives in San Jose, California, with her family. They have four cats: Rocket J. Squirrel, Le Mew, The Honest John Wookenchops (a.k.a. “Wookie”), and Noel.
Genevieve Santos is an illustrator born, raised, and living in San Jose, California, and sole proprietor of a small stationery company, Le Petit Elefant. Her love for animation started at a young age, and is what drives her to draw the slightest observations. She also has an insatiable weakness for ice cream.
Visit us at simonandschuster.com/kids
www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Holly-Anna
www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Genevieve-Santos
Little Simon
Simon & Schuster, New York
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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First Little Simon hardcover edition October 2020
Copyright © 2020 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Also available in a Little Simon paperback edition.
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Designed by Laura Roode
Jacket design by Laura Roode
Jacket illustrations by Genevieve Santos © 2020 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
This book has been cataloged with Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-1-5344-7835-0 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-5344-7836-7 (hc)
ISBN 978-1-5344-7837-4 (eBook)
