Trace
TRY IT FROM ANOTHER SIDE
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Trace is a boy with short brown hair and a warm orange jumper, and in his hand he holds an old brass compass. Trace loves mazes. And he has a special trick for the ones that seem to have no way through.
"Every path dead-ends," groans his friend Omar, staring at the page. "I've tried them all. Give up?"
"Not yet," says Trace, and he holds up his compass. "When you're lost going one way, try going the other way."
"What do you mean?"
"You've been starting at the start," says Trace. "Everyone does. But mazes can trick you from the start. So let's start at the end. Put your finger on the finish, and walk backwards."
Omar puts his finger on the little flag at the end of the maze. He moves it backwards along the path. Left. Down. Around a bend. And then, surprise, the path he is following leads right back to a gap near the start that he'd skipped, because it looked too narrow to be real.
"It goes through!" Omar laughs. "That skinny bit! I thought it was a wall!"
"The first time you look, a skinny gap looks like a wall," Trace nods. "When you come at it from the other side, you can see it's really a door."
Omar tries another maze, and this time when he gets stuck, he doesn't moan. He just flips his finger to the end and starts again, backwards.
That's Trace's clever idea.
Follow the maze once more - start from the end and you might find the door.
A grown-up can play too! Draw a simple maze together. Solve it once from the start, then again from the finish backwards. Which way was easier? Now try a tricky one and see if backwards helps.
When Omar finishes, Trace hands him the compass to hold for a moment. "You found it yourself," says Trace. And Omar feels a bright, tingly pride. Not because the maze was easy, but because he found a new way to look at it.
Hear it as an audio drama
A short play starring Trace, from SecondLookForge. Different voices, same idea. Listen any time after you read.
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Read the drama script
- Narrator: From Spark and Anvil and Secondlookforge — this is Trace, in chapter 1 of the Secondlookforge cast.
- Narrator: This drama uses an AI-generated voice. Voiced via Gemini 2.5.
- Narrator: Trace loved mazes, and he carried an old brass compass. He had a special trick for the mazes that seemed to have no way through.
- Child: Every path dead-ends. I've tried them all. Give up?
- Trace: Not yet! When you're lost going one way, try going the other way.
- Child: What do you mean?
- Trace: You've been starting at the start. Everybody does. Let's start at the end. Put your finger on the finish, and walk backwards.
- Narrator: The child's finger moved backwards. Left. Down. Around a bend. And the path led right to a skinny gap near the start that they had skipped.
- Child: It goes through! I thought that skinny bit was a wall!
- Trace: From the front, a skinny gap looks like a wall. From the other side, you can see it's really a door.
- Child: I'll do the next one backwards too.
- Trace: You found it yourself.
- Narrator: Follow the maze once more. Start from the end, and you might find the door. That's Trace's clever idea.
- Narrator: You've been listening to a Spark and Anvil chapter, written by the Spark and Anvil writing team for ages 9 to 14.
- Narrator: Apps stay free forever.
- Narrator: Curriculum aligned to Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards.
- Narrator: Released under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 for educational reuse. Visit Spark and Anvil for the full transcript.
Reading together with a grown-up? A card for the grown-up
For the grown-up: ask one question, then wait. When they answer, add one word to what they said. Tap the button when they have said something — that is one turn each, a circle. Nothing is recorded or kept.
Let them finish it
Say “Trace says: follow the maze once more - start from the …” and stop. Let them finish it.
Now wait. Count slowly to five in your head. Their answer is worth the quiet.
Circles together: 0
The SecondLookForge ensemble
Trace is one of the friends in SecondLookForge. Each friend shows you one idea by how they act; meet them all and you have the whole subject.
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Twice
never says "impossible" until she has looked twice — the look-again reflex itself
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Tally
Finds a second way to make a number when everyone thought there was only one (a second look at a number)
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Peek
Looks again at the board and spots the one safe square the king can escape to (a second look at a position)
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Yield
Gives up a little too soon — so the child learns to catch it; never teased, always cheered when he looks again (the too-early-quitter, anti-shame)
