Kira’s Magical Gel Pens 🐼 ✨ Dreamy Bedtime Stories For Kids | Rewind

[00:00:10] Hello and welcome back to Koala Moon, a podcast of original bedtime stories and sleep meditations for kids designed to make bedtime a dream. I wonder whether any of you can relate to Kira and her newfound passion for pens, pencils and colourful stationery. She's so excited by this new shop that's opened up in Sleepy Forest and it sells all her favourite things,

[00:00:37] so much so that her mum has had to limit the number of times she can visit it in a week. We're about to join little Kira as she counts down the seconds till the end of school so she can go to her favourite place, Stanley's Stationery Store. She loves gel pens and binders and folders and everything organisational, so it's always a treat.

[00:01:01] But this time there's something very special and rather curious waiting for her in the cabinet. Before we begin, here's a quick ad break, then we'll start tonight's bedtime story. If you'd like to support our podcast, enjoy ad-free listening and unlock all our premium stories, you can join the Cocoa Club. To join, follow the link in the show notes. Some stories take centre stage. Some are discovered brick by brick.

[00:01:31] From purple butterflies to guitar-shaped petals, every LEGO Edition's Olivia Rodrigo set is filled with Easter eggs inspired by Olivia's world. So rock out like your favourite superstar. Find a story in every piece with the Complete LEGO Edition's Olivia Rodrigo Collection. Before we join her though, let's make sure we're relaxed and ready to listen. Take a breath in and breathe it out.

[00:02:02] Breathe in, nice and steady and see if you can slow it down a little this time. Breathe in, two, three, four. Hold and out, two, three, four. In, two, three, four. Five, hold and out, two, three, four.

[00:02:34] Keep going and I'll get started. This is Kira's Magical Gel Pen by Luke Prendergast. Deep in the heart of a faraway forest stood a cosy wooden cabin. Inside the cabin lived a family of koalas. Well, actually not all of them were koalas.

[00:03:03] There was also a young panda bear called Kira, who'd been adopted by Coco's parents and had lived happily in Sleepy Forest for what felt like forever. Over the years, Kira had accumulated a list of her favourite places in Sleepy Forest. She loved going to Boba's Bubble Tea Cafe to slurp on the most delicious teas filled to the brim with glistening tapioca balls.

[00:03:30] She loved sailing down Sleepy River on her back on an inflatable mattress with her brother Coco, looking up into the overhanging canopy of trees where multicoloured birds flittered and tweeted. And she loved the big field next to Sleepy Forest Elementary School, where at lunchtimes and sometimes on the weekend, she would have cheerleading practice with Miss Bushytale.

[00:03:59] A squirrel with a lustrous red coat. The coolest teacher in the whole school. But just lately, Kira had added a new place to her list of favourite Sleepy Forest spots. In fact, she was so obsessed with it that her mum had put a limit on how often she was allowed to go, because otherwise she'd simply be there all the time. She would happily take a pillow and a sleeping bag and move in.

[00:04:26] But no, that wasn't allowed. Instead, on Wednesdays after school, her mum would come to the school and take her to her new favourite place. And guess what? Today was a Wednesday. So when the cockerel crowed to announce the end of the last class, Kira stowed all her pens away in her purple starry pencil case, slung her bag over her back and was the first one out of the door.

[00:04:55] See you at home, Coco, she said, when she ran past her brother in the corridor. I'm off to Stanley's. Bye. She didn't even wait to hear if he answered. Kira found her mum standing by the school's wooden gates, wearing a smart red jacket and carrying a cloth tote bag. Kira, her mum laughed, returning her hug. Calm down, calm down.

[00:05:24] It's like you're about to take off and fly away into the sky. It was true. Kira was feeling giddy with excitement. She was bouncing up and down on her paws, almost involuntarily, and her cheeks were aching from smiling. And she was already taking her mum by the hand and pulling her down the forest path. She paused and took a deep breath

[00:05:51] and then let it out slowly through her nose. Okay, said Kira. I've calmed down now, but I can't help it. I'm just so excited. Let's go. Let's go. Her mum gave a little shake of her head, but she laughed. And together, they walked hand in hand down the forest path, stepping through the shafts of sunlight

[00:06:19] that fell between the branches of the trees. Kira's mum asked her about her day, and Kira got so caught up in telling her all about how she'd almost achieved a double somersault in cheerleading practice that afternoon, that she didn't notice she was there until the building rose up before her. It was a plain-looking wooden hut with a thatched roof and a swinging door

[00:06:47] with a sign above it that read Stanley's Stationery. Kira let out a little squeak of delight. We're here, she cried. And with that, she dropped her mum's hand and hurried through the swinging door. Kira had always been a huge fan of stationery. She couldn't get enough. She liked to have a special notebook for each of her classes with different coloured pens

[00:07:17] so she could take lots of detailed notes. And she liked having colour-coded sticky notes and ring-bound folders where she could file away any worksheets or handouts her teachers gave her. And finally, since Stanley's Stationery had opened just a couple of months before, all her stationery needs could now be met. Inside, it was quiet, as though she had stepped inside a holy place.

[00:07:46] The shop was not large, but every inch of it was taken up with shelves full of boxes containing every kind of stationery you could imagine. Pens and pencils, rubbers and sharpeners, notebooks and pencil cases, folders and planners. Kira walked up the aisles, peeking inside the boxes to see if there was anything new

[00:08:16] she hadn't seen before. She rifled through the smelly gel pens. She already had the chocolate flavour and the vanilla flavour and the popcorn flavour too. But now there was a cherry-flavoured one and a blueberry one too. Maybe next time she'd get them. But today, there was something in particular she wanted to find. Kira turned a corner

[00:08:45] around the aisle and spotted an old and slender stalk with grey feathers and a pale yellow beak sitting behind the counter. That was Stanley the Stationer, who could be seen flying over the forest every week with an empty bag carried in his beak, before returning a few hours later with the bag brimming full of new items. Each time Kira glimpsed his silhouette, picked out against the deep blue sky,

[00:09:15] she let out a little sigh of delight. What stationary treasures would Stanley have brought with him this time? Now Stanley looked up and spotted her. Oh, hello, little Kira, he said with a kindly smile. Is it Wednesday already? That's come around quickly. Do you think so? Kira replied.

[00:09:43] It feels like it's taken forever for me. Stanley showed her some of the latest additions to the stationery store. Special paper on which the words remained visible until you spoke the secret password. Felt tips with rainbow-coloured ink. Self-sharpening pencils. But Kira told Stanley that she was particularly looking for a good solid pen

[00:10:13] for doodling with. Kira, after all, loved to doodle in the margins of her books, drawing all kinds of funny pictures and squiggles. So he fished out a box from under his counter and showed her all the best doodling pens. Kira tried her best to look closely at what he was showing her, but something else had caught her eye. On the shelf behind her stood a pen.

[00:10:42] She didn't know what drew her attention to it. It was not a particularly special-looking pen in any way. It was an ordinary blue shiny gel pen and it sat in a plain black box. Very unassuming. And yet something about it called to her and soon she pointed to it and said, What about that one? Stanley looked around.

[00:11:12] Which one? He said, then sighed. Ah, that one. Well, that is a very remarkable pen. It is? Kira asked. It is, Stanley said. It has wonderful magical properties. It does? Kira asked,

[00:11:41] her glittering eyes growing wide with wonder. What are they? Ah, sighed Stanley. I can't tell you that, but, you know, he added, lifting the pen and its box off the shelf, I've spent a lot of time looking for the right owner for it and I think you might be the one. And with that,

[00:12:11] he handed Kira the box. Kira carried it gently home as though it were a sacred object. In her room, she drew a few doodles with it, then stared at the pen as if waiting for something to happen. But nothing did. It seemed like a completely ordinary gel pen. That was odd, she thought. What were

[00:12:41] its magical properties meant to be? That night, she fell asleep rather confused. The next morning, she tucked the pen into her pencil case and took it to school. The first class was music, and she had so much fun tootling away on her recorder, that she completely forgot about her new gel pen, until she reached her mathematics class.

[00:13:10] She finished the sums the teacher put on the board very quickly, and then flicked through her pencil case to find a fun coloured pen, maybe apple green or candy floss pink, to doodle with while she waited for her classmates to finish too. That's when she spotted it, the pen from Stan's stationery store the day before. She slipped it out, maybe she'd give it another go.

[00:13:39] On her notepad, in the margin, she drew a butterfly with big patterned wings. She stared at it. Then she stared at the pen, but once again, nothing happened. Magic powers, huh? This pen didn't even seem to have basic powers. The ink was just nothing special blue, and it wasn't even scented. Kira gave out a sigh

[00:14:08] and stared out of the window where the leaves were twirling on the trees. But then something caught her eye. The butterfly she'd just drawn, she could swear she'd just seen it moving. But that couldn't be. She looked back at the page, and then it happened again. The butterfly gave a flutter of its wings, and then, as Kira watched in wonder,

[00:14:38] the butterfly doodle peeled itself off the piece of paper, gave a little shake, and then lifted off into the air. Kira watched it as it fluttered across the classroom and right out of the window. Kira stared at the gel pen in her hand. Well, okay, she thought to herself. Now that was a magical power.

[00:15:09] The other students in the class finished their maths problems, and the teacher started going through the answers. Kira got most of them right. She only got two quite difficult ones wrong. But when she looked in her pencil case for her eraser so that she could correct them, she discovered it wasn't there. Well, that was pretty strange. Kira was not in the habit of losing items from her beloved pencil case.

[00:15:38] The eraser must be at home. But what in the meantime was she going to do? My dear struck her. She picked up her new magical gel pen and quickly drew a doodle of an eraser on her notepad. Then she lay down her pen and feeling a little foolish but deciding to give it a go anyway, she reached out and picked the doodle of an eraser up off the page

[00:16:08] and it came away in her hand. It was still a black outline doodle but it was also an eraser and when she pressed it against her page to rub out the problem she'd got wrong it worked Kira whispered neat. At break time she went and found Coco who was hanging out with Prickles. She told them both about what she'd discovered.

[00:16:38] Oh Coco cooed. Go on show us then. Oh yeah Prickles agreed. I'm a bit peckish. I'd love an apple. Can you make me one of those? Kira smiled at him. I can give it a go she said. She took out her notebook and her gel pen and drew an apple. It was a bit wobbly and not a

[00:17:08] nice perfect sphere like many of the apples that grew in sleepy forest. When Kira picked it out off the page and handed it to Prickles he eyed it a little warily. But when he took a bite and crunched it a few times his eyes brightened. He nodded appreciatively. Mmm he sighed. Now that's a delicious apple. When school finished

[00:17:38] Koko and Prickles were waiting for Kira by the school gate. Come on Koko said let's go home and try out more things with your magical new pen. So they did. They drew the squishiest cutest cuddly toy in the shape of a giant banana. They drew a crown of delicate flowers all laced together which Kira placed on top of her head. They

[00:18:08] drew a bouncy ball which they sent pinging around the room bouncing off the walls and ceilings. When they went downstairs to the kitchen they found Koko and Kira's dad standing over a broken rolling pin. Oh dear he was saying I needed that to roll out the pastry for tonight's pie. How am I going to do it without one?

[00:18:37] Hmm. He peered up at the clock that was ticking away the seconds on the wall. It's too late to go to the shop now he sighed. They'll all be shut. Whatever will I do? Luckily Kira was there to help. Don't worry dad she said. I can help watch this. And getting out her pen she began doodling

[00:19:07] on her notepad. Her dad watched with his forehead furrowed in confusion and concentration. He glanced at Coco. What on earth is your sister doing? He asked. And how is this going to help with my pie? But Coco just smiled and shook his head. Wait and see he told him just wait and see.

[00:19:37] Kira doodled and doodled until at last the rolling pin was complete or at least she thought it was more or less a rolling pin. No Kira her dad said that's not a rolling pin that's a drawing of a rolling pin. Now what's this all about? I do have to fix dinner you know.

[00:20:08] It is a drawing Kira agreed but it's also a rolling pin and to show him she scooped the rolling pin off the page and handed it to her dad. He stared at it agog. Then shook his head and laughed. With you kids I never know what's going to happen next. All right time to roll

[00:20:38] out the pastry for this pie. Kira and Coco exchanged a happy glance as they watched their dad take out his cooking ingredients. They loved helping their parents out in whatever way they could especially when it involved wielding magic. What should we do with the pen next? Kira asked. Just then Prickles let out a yawn so big that it made all

[00:21:08] his quills shake and shiver. Ooh he sighed I'm tired what I'd love is a nice long nap in a hammock swinging back and forth in the evening light tied between two trees doesn't that sound relaxing can your

[00:21:38] magical gel pen do that? Kira looked down at her pen in one hand and her notebook in the other. I think the pen can do it she told Prickles but I'm not sure that the notebook will be big enough. If we drew a hammock on a piece of paper this size it would be tiny. Only a caterpillar or a little mouse would be able to use a hammock like that. What

[00:22:07] we'd need is a huge piece of paper. But where are we going to find one of those? Kira, Coco and Prickles all stroked their chins contemplating the question. Kira was sure that Stanley the stork would have something at his stationery store but it was late and the store would be shut. So maybe they wouldn't be able to get Prickles the cozy hammock he was dreaming of.

[00:22:37] But then Coco's eyes lit up and he put the forefinger of his paw up into the air. Kira knew just what that gesture meant. It meant her big brother had had an idea. One page won't work Coco said but what if we stick a bunch of pages together until it's big enough to make the right sized hammock.

[00:23:08] By the time Coco had finished nodding Prickles was nodding in agreement and Kira said that's a brilliant idea Coco let's do it. And so the three of them headed out of the cozy cabin where the golden and lilac evening light was already settling down between the forest trees filtering through the leaves and falling like petals onto the

[00:23:38] floor. They walked to the edge of the clearing where three trees grew in a perfect triangle. Coco was carrying a stick of glue that he'd taken from the kitchen and now Kira and prickles lay out pieces of paper on the ground which he stuck together. Soon enough they had stuck together enough pieces of paper that they ran along the length of the space between two of the

[00:24:08] broad tree trunks. They stood back looking down on it. Wow that's a big piece of paper prickles said. Yup agreed Kira. Well I better get on with it and she crouched down on her knees and began to draw. First she drew the outline of a hammer shuffling along and dragging the nib of the

[00:24:38] magical gel pen across the pages so that it ran along the whole length of the piece of paper. Then she began to fill it in showing how the ropes were stitched together, how a comfy webbing made up the bed of the hammer. It took a while but soon enough it was done and then she took one end of the doodled hammock, Coco took the other and

[00:25:08] together they heaved off off the page. And then there it was lying on the grass, a big doodled hammock, just the perfect size to swing on. You did it, Kira, Brickles said, a big smile spreading over his little hedgehog face. You really

[00:25:40] proud of herself. Well, let's give it a try. The three of them tied the end securely to two of the big trunks so that it swung safely between them. Kira told Prickles that he had to be the one to try it, so he clambered in, lay back, and began to

[00:26:10] he sighed. This has got to be the comfiest hammock I've ever laid in. I could fall asleep in it right away. You guys need one of these too. Kira let out a tinkling laugh. That's just what I was thinking, she agreed. And so she and

[00:26:40] Coco laid out two huge lengths of pieces of paper, stuck them together with the glue stick and set to work drawing two more hammocks. As they drew, the sun continued to set so that the golden light dissipated and the lilac light deepened. And when at last they were finished, it was twilight.

[00:27:09] Kira and Coco pulled the doodled hammocks out of the paper and strung them up in the trees. Then, one by one, they clambered in and lay back. Well, Prickles wasn't joking. This was absolutely the comfiest hammer Kira had ever lain in. It was just the right shape, cupping the small

[00:27:39] of her back like a friendly hand, and so soft on her fur she might have been lying on a cloud. The hammock rocked back and forth like a crib, and up above them a crescent moon like a slender smile hung in the purple sky. As she watched, she saw little stars begin to

[00:28:09] open their eyes, waking up from their long slumber in the day, blinking and twinkling and ready for a long night of being awake. Wasn't it funny, Kira thought to herself, that while she was awake, the stars slept, and while she slept, up woke the stars. It was as though they

[00:28:39] were looking after each other, one keeping watch on the world while the other one slept. What a wonderful thought. Kira let out a big yawn, stretched her little limbs and rolled over. The hammer was so cosy. Perhaps she could have a little pre-dinner sleep now. I'm tired,

[00:29:09] she whispered. Me too, came Coco's murmured reply. Prickles didn't say anything, but already the sound of his gentle snores could be heard emanating from his rocking hammock. That chime, Coco said. Yes, Kira replied. I

[00:29:39] think so. And as Kira fell asleep, she thought how lucky she was that Stanley the stork had decided that she was the magical gel pen's worthy owner. What a lot of fun and wonder the gel pen had brought into her life. Already she was imagining all the doodles she might draw over the coming week. The

[00:30:09] stories she would tell Stanley when she saw him next Wednesday. Soon enough, it wasn't only Prickles' snoring, but Coco's and Kira's too, that were sounding in the little clearing outside the cozy cabin. quiet, humming chorus. And when an hour later their dad came out to tell them that a delicious

[00:30:38] pie was waiting for them inside, he found the three of them fast asleep, rocking in their doodled hammocks. Ah, well, Kira's dad thought to himself, he should leave them there to sleep a little longer, for they looked so comfy. The pie would keep warm, and they could have a little slice of it when they woke up.

[00:31:09] And with that, he turned and went back inside the cozy cabin in the woods.