The Bookshelf in a Box
1The box was almost as tall as Darius. On the side, big letters said, "Bookshelf. Some assembly required." Grandma Ruth slit the tape and laughed. "That means we build it ourselves," she said. "I'll handle the tools. You read the booklet out loud." Darius spread the boards across the living room floor and opened the booklet to Step 1.
2The first step was easy, but Step 2 had a word Darius had never seen. "Push a dowel into each hole along the edges," he read. "What's a dowel?" Instead of guessing, he read on. The next sentence said that dowels were the short wooden sticks in Bag A. Darius shook out a pile of smooth little sticks, and he and Grandma pushed one into every hole.
3Next, Darius read Step 3 aloud: "Join the four outside boards with the bolts from Bag B. Do tighten the bolts until all four boards are in place." Grandma tightened each bolt as they went. When they reached the fourth board, it would not go. They pushed. They wiggled. The board stuck out at a crooked angle. Darius looked back at Step 3 and read it again, slowly, with his finger under each word. "Oh no," he groaned. "I skipped a word."
4Grandma loosened the bolts, and this time the fourth board slid right into place. Then Darius read, "Step 4: Slide the back panel into the grove." He stopped. "A grove is a bunch of trees," he said. "That can't be right." He looked closer and saw that the word had two o's. "Groove," he said. He read on and learned that the groove was a long, narrow cut along the inside edge of each side board. The thin back panel slid down into it like a letter into an envelope.
5Step 6 said to rest each shelf on four small pegs. Darius giggled. "For a second, I read pigs," he said. Grandma laughed. "Four little pigs holding up your books? I'd like to see that." Step 7 used a word Darius knew, but not in the way he knew it. It said to make sure each shelf was level. Darius read the step twice. If a marble rolled, the shelf was tilted, so level had to mean the opposite. On the third shelf, the marble rolled to the left. Grandma moved one peg up a notch, and the marble stayed put.
6At last, they stood the bookshelf against the wall. It was straight, sturdy, and empty. Darius ran to his room and came back with an armload of books. "Next time, I'll read and you can hold the wrench," Grandma said. Darius grinned. "Deal. But I'm checking every word."