“I’m soooo bored, Dad!” says the little star in the sky, doing a somersault. “What’s that blue and green ball down there?” the little star asks. “That’s a planet. People call it Earth,” Dad explains. “What are humans?” the little star continues to ask. “Humans are very intelligent creatures. They can think, feel, and even make magic,” Dad explains. “Make magic?” the little star asks, excited. “Yes, in the old days, when Mom and I were your age, the whole earth was all blue and green. Until people turned the green into gray,” says Dad. “But why? I like green,” says the little star.
“It’s time to shine, little star. The Sun has already gone to sleep,” Dad says, closing his eyes.
But the little star doesn’t feel like shining. “Let the others shine. I wonder if anyone would notice if I were gone. There are so many stars in the sky,” the little star thinks aloud.
He wants to get to Earth to see who these people are and why they changed the beautiful colors.
“I absolutely have to get to Earth,” he continues to think. “But how can I fall from the sky to Earth?” the little star wonders. He tries everything, bouncing, turning, and jumping, and just as he is getting dizzy, he notices that his place in the sky starts to wobble. The wobble suddenly turns into a swing, and all of a sudden, he loses his footing and falls, tumbling and spinning toward Earth.
At the same moment, Lisa is sitting on her bed, looking out of the window at the starry sky.
“Max!” she screams and runs into his room. “Did you see that?” she asks, excited. “What?” asks Max, who is lying on his bed listening to his new radio play CD. “A star just fell from the sky. We have to find it before it burns up!” Max looks at Lisa in confusion and says, “Lisa, that was just a shooting star. You should have made a wish.”
“No, no!” says Lisa. “That wasn’t a shooting star. It’s a star that’s missing from the sky now,” she insists. She goes to the window and points to the sky. “Look, Max. There was the star up there, and now its place is empty. Please, we have to go look for him,” she says desperately.
Max is now looking out the window, too. “The place does look strangely empty,” he says. “OK. Get your coat on. We’ll look for it,” Max agrees.
Max and Lisa put on their winter boots, hats, and gloves. It’s snowing like crazy outside. “Take your flashlight,” Lisa says excitedly.
“Where do we start looking?” asks Max as they stand outside in the snow. “Look, there’s something glowing in the forest. That must be where the star fell,” says Lisa, and she runs off. “Wait!” Max shouts and runs after her. And that’s when he sees it. The glow is coming from the forest. It’s very bright, almost yellow. It’s so bright that they don’t even need the flashlight.
They run through the forest and find a bright light shining from a small hole in the snow. “That must be the star,” says Lisa. “Max, say something!” shouts Lisa, nudging him. “Uh, yeah. That must be the star,” says Max, startled and staring into the hole.
Cautiously, they approach the little star, who is desperately trying to stretch his tips.
“We have to help the little star,” says Lisa. “Yeah, sure,” says Max. He can hardly believe what he is seeing.
“But how?” he asks, looking up at the sky. Now, he sees it clearly. There’s a place in the sky that’s empty. “You have to throw him back up,” says Lisa.
“But I can’t throw that high,” Max protests. “Try it! Look, the little star is already faint. It’s moving less, and its light isn’t as bright. We have to hurry!” Lisa insists.
Lisa is right. The little star is really not as bright as before.
Max carefully picks up the little star with his gloves. “The little star still warm,” Max notes.
The little star understood everything Lisa and Max said. A star belongs in the sky, where it’s important and has its tasks. And no matter how many stars there are, every single star in the sky is important.
“I’m going to throw you up now. But you’ll have to do the rest on your own,” Max says to the little star and throws him up toward the sky with a big swing. Then, the little star starts to spin faster and faster until it’s so high that Lisa and Max can only see a small, bright dot.
The little star has arrived at its place. He looks down at Max and Lisa, shines extra bright once, goes dark again, and then blinks briefly before returning to his normal light.
“Nobody’s going to believe this,” Max says, laughing. “No, I’m sure they won’t,” Lisa agrees, skipping back home through the forest.
