 Hello. Pinky and I are here to read you a story today. It's called Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold. And it goes like this. I will always remember when the stars fell down around me and lifted me up above the George Washington Bridge. I could see our tiny rooftop with mommy and daddy and Mr. and Mrs. Honey, our next door neighbors, still playing cards as if nothing was going on. And Bee Bee, my baby brother, lying real still on the mattress just like I told him to. His eyes like huge floodlights tracking me through the sky. Sleeping on Tar Beach was magical. Lying on the roof in the night with stars and skyscraper buildings all around me made me feel rich like I owned all that I could see. The bridge was my most prized possession. Daddy said that the George Washington Bridge is the longest, most beautiful bridge in the world. And that it opened in 1931 on the very day I was born. Daddy worked on that bridge hoisting cables. Since then I've wanted that bridge to be mine. Now I have claimed it. All I had to do was fly over it for it to be mine forever. I can wear it like a giant diamond necklace. Or just fly above it and marvel at its sparkling beauty. I can fly. Yes. Fly. Me. Cassie Louise Lightfoot. Only eight years old and in the third grade. And I can fly. That means I am free to go wherever I want for the rest of my life. Daddy took me to see the new union building he is working on. He can walk on steel girders high up in the sky and not fall. They call him the cat. But still he can't join the union because Grandpa wasn't a member. Well, Daddy is going to own that building because I'm going to fly over it and give it to him. Then it won't matter that he's not in their old union or whether he's colored or half-breed Indian like they say. He'll be rich and won't have to stand on 24-story high girders and look down. He can look at his building going up. And Mommy won't cry all winter when he goes to look for work and doesn't come home. And Mommy can laugh and sleep like Mrs. Honey. And we can have ice cream every night for dessert. Pinkie likes ice cream too. Next I'm going to fly over the ice cream factory just to make sure we do. Tonight we're going up to Tar Beach. Mommy is toasting peanuts and fried chicken. And Daddy will bring home a watermelon. Mr. and Mrs. Honey will bring the beer and their old green card table. And then the stars will fall around me and I will fly to the union building. I'll take Bebe with me. He has threatened to tell Mommy and Daddy if I leave him behind. I've told him it's very easy. Anyone can fly. All you need is somewhere to go that you can't get to any other way. The next thing you know, you're just flying among the stars. And then it has a picture of the quilt that this story was written on. Faith Ringgold likes to make stories on quilts with fabric. And it makes me wonder where would you fly if you could fly anywhere you wanted? I hope you'll let us know.