The story in three lines. Lan wishes for a game that never ends, and gets a chase round a loop where anyone landed on goes back to the start. Calling a winner when the bell rings only makes the leader stall and the one behind miserable. After a peg puzzle where every jump takes one peg away, Lan adds a basket of ten acorns that empties one a turn, and makes the last acorn worth two.

One question to ask. "Why didn't Lan feel like she'd won when the bell rang?" Listen for "because Inkling was about to catch up" or "because it was just the time." Then ask: "What does the acorn basket do that the bell didn't?"

One thing to do at the table. Play any chase or race game with a pile of ten buttons in the middle. Take one every turn; when they are gone, the game ends. Then try Lan's rule: the last button counts double. Did anybody stop trying near the end?

The grown-up layer. Game designers talk about a game needing a way to finish that is built into the play, not bolted on. Something that only goes one way, like pegs leaving a board or cards leaving a deck, guarantees an ending. A bonus at the end (the last acorn worth two) keeps the player who is behind still hoping. It is the same idea as book one, chance for everyone, arriving from the other direction.

Let your child tell the story back first. Telling it back is how the acorn goes in the pocket.