Milo’s Map of Puddles

Rain tapped Milo’s window. He pressed his nose to the glass. The path to the little library was full of puddles.

“We can go another day,” Dad said.

But Milo had a book to return: *The Biggest Red Boat*. “I want to take it back,” he said. Then he looked at the wet path and held Dad’s hand tighter.

Dad opened the cupboard. “We can wear boots. And we can make a puddle map.”

At the front gate, Milo pointed at the first puddle. It was small and round. Dad drew a blue circle on a piece of paper.

“One safe step beside it,” Milo said.

The next puddle stretched across most of the path. Milo stopped. His yellow boots looked very small beside it.

“Would you like to go back?” Dad asked.

Milo shook his head. Near the edge, he saw three flat stones. “Stone, stone, grass!” he said.

Dad stood close. Milo stepped onto one stone, then the next, then the third. At last, he stepped onto a dry patch of grass.

Farther along, rainwater rushed from a drainpipe. It made a shiny stream across the sidewalk. Milo watched a brown leaf sail away in it.

“That one is too splashy,” he said.

They walked around the stream by the fence. Milo added a wiggly blue line to his map.

At the library door, Milo’s boots were muddy, but his book was dry inside Dad’s bag. The librarian smiled. “Did you come through the rain?”

Milo spread out his map. It showed round puddles, long puddles, a wiggly stream, and three small stones.

On the way back, the rain softened to drip-drip. Milo stopped at the first little puddle.

He lifted one yellow boot and splashed right in.

“That puddle was safe!” he said, laughing.

Dad drew a tiny yellow boot beside the blue circle. Milo held the map carefully as they walked on.