Ava's Starlight Ride Home

Page 1 · Title page

Ava's Starlight Ride Home by EpicTale™

Page 2 · Copyright

Copyright 2026 EpicTale™. All rights reserved. Made with care as a personalized storybook. epictale.xyz

Page 3 · Dedication

For Ava, who follows every strange light with a brave heart and dancing feet. May you always find your way home. Love Mommy & Daddy.

Page 4 · Story

Bedtime at Ava's house was a cozy business. Daddy plumped the pillow, Mommy smoothed the blanket, and Ava wriggled down until only her nose and her happy eyes peeked out. "Sleep tight, little explorer," Mommy whispered from the doorway, and the light in the hall glowed soft and gold.

Page 5 · Story

But Ava did not sleep. Outside her window, three little lights were blinking, green, then gold, then green again, and they were sinking slowly toward the garden. "Stars don't do that," Ava whispered. She pushed back her blanket and pressed her nose to the glass.

Page 6 · Story

The garden was silver with moonlight, and right in the middle of the lawn sat a rounded saucer with a glowing ring underneath. Beside it stood a small lavender alien with two antennae, each tipped with a tiny yellow light. "Oh! A human," said the alien, in a voice like a squeaky flute. "Please don't be scared. My name is Pim, and I am extremely lost."

Page 7 · Story

Pim explained everything in one long breath. He had borrowed the family ship to chase a comet, just to see where it went, and now the comet was gone and home was nowhere in sight. Ava thought about how she always found her way back from the far end of the park: she remembered what she had passed. "Then I'll help you find it," she said, because Ava had never once in her life said no to an adventure.

Page 8 · Story

Inside, the ship was round and snug, with one wide front window and three porthole lights that glowed like warm candies. Pim pressed a big green button, and the underside ring began to hum. "Hold on to something," said Pim. Ava held on to Pim.

Page 9 · Story

The garden fell away. The house shrank to a dollhouse, the town to a scatter of sparkles, and then Earth itself became a blue marble rolling gently beneath them. "Goodbye for a little while," Ava whispered to the marble. "I'll be back before breakfast."

Page 10 · Story

"Now," said Ava, "how did you get here? What did you fly past?" Pim scrunched up his antennae in thought. "A planet with rings. Then a striped giant. Then a red one. Then a grey ball with holes in it, and then you." "Then we go the other way round," said Ava. "Grey ball first!"

Page 11 · Story

The grey ball was the Moon, and up close it was covered in craters, big and small, like a cookie someone had poked all over. "Space rocks made those," said Pim. "They bump right into the Moon, because it has no air to slow them down." As they passed, the left porthole light began to blink. "That's the ship's bump-warning," Pim added. "It blinks on the side where something big is close."

Page 12 · Story

The Moon slid behind them, and for a long while there was only black and stars. Then Ava noticed something. The Sun was behind them now, small and bright. "Every time we pass one, the Sun gets smaller," she said. "So we keep the Sun at our backs, and we won't get turned around." "Ava," said Pim, "you are a genius." He pointed a three-fingered hand. "And there's the red one!"

Page 13 · Story

Mars grew until it filled the window, rusty red and dusty, with two tiny lumpy moons tumbling around it. "It's red because its dust is rusty," said Pim proudly. "Zola taught me that." "Who's Zola?" "My big sister. She's the best pilot on our whole planet." Pim's antennae drooped a little. "She's going to be so worried." Ava squeezed his hand. "Then let's hurry."

Page 14 · Story

Jupiter was so big that Ava gasped out loud. Its stripes of cream and orange and brown swirled past the window for ages, and a great red storm rolled in the middle of them. "That storm is bigger than my whole planet," Ava said. "Bigger than mine too," said Pim. "It has been storming there for hundreds of years."

Page 15 · Story

While the stripes drifted by, Ava taught Pim a dance she had made up, a twirl and a hop and a wiggle, and Pim's antennae bobbed in time. Pim taught Ava the song his mama sang at bedtime, which sounded like bubbles popping in order. "On my planet," said Pim, "the puddles sing when you step in them." "Nooo," laughed Ava. "You'll see," said Pim.

Page 16 · Story

"Rings!" cried Pim, bouncing in his seat. "The ringed planet! We're nearly there!" Saturn's rings spread out before them, wide and flat and gleaming, like a golden record spinning around a butterscotch ball.

Page 17 · Story

"Are they solid?" Ava asked. "Could we slide on them?" "They look solid," said Pim, "but they're made of billions of chunks of ice and rock, all whizzing around together. Some are as small as snowballs and some are as big as houses." Pim steered them carefully high above the rings and pointed to the deep dark beyond. "Home is that way. Past the rocky patch." "Rocky patch?" said Ava.

Page 18 · Story

The rocky patch turned out to be a great tumbling field of asteroids, rocks the size of hills rolling slowly through the dark. Pim slowed the ship to a crawl. "This is where I got lost," he admitted. "I zoomed through too fast chasing the comet, and I came out the wrong side." Then every porthole light started blinking at once.

Page 19 · Story

"The bump-warning!" said Ava. "You steer, and I'll watch the lights." She fixed her eyes on the three glowing portholes. "Left one's blinking, go right. Now the middle one, dip down. Slow, slow, and straight!" Pim followed every word. Rock after rock rolled harmlessly past the window, and at last the field opened into calm, empty dark. "We did it," Pim breathed. "Together," said Ava.

Page 20 · Story

Beyond the asteroids, a small violet planet hung in the dark with two moons, one pink and one pale green. Pim's antennae lit up as bright as lamps. "HOME!" he shouted, so loudly that Ava clapped her hands over her ears and laughed.

Page 21 · Story

The ship drifted down over rolling hills of purple moss and a little village of round, bubble-shaped houses that glowed from inside like lanterns. Its two landing legs touched down as softly as a sigh. "Come on," said Pim, hopping out onto the moss. "My house is just over the hill. I know a shortcut."

Page 22 · Story

The shortcut went across a meadow dotted with shining puddles, and when Pim stepped in the first one, it went PLINK. The second went PLONK. The third went a bright, ringing PING. "The puddles sing!" gasped Ava. "You weren't joking!"

Page 23 · Story

Ava could not help herself. She twirled and hopped from puddle to puddle, and every splash rang out a different note until the whole meadow was playing a tune. Pim hopped along beside her, antennae bobbing. "That's the bedtime song!" he cried. "You're playing my mama's song!"

Page 24 · Story

At the top of the hill, outside a round house with a lantern-glow door, a tall plum-colored alien and a lilac one with a star-patched sash were scanning the sky. "PIM!" they cried together, and Pim was swept up into so many arms that only his feet showed. "Mama! Zola!" Pim squeaked. "I got lost, and then I got found, and this is Ava, and she is the best navigator on Earth!"

Page 25 · Story

Pim's mama knelt and pressed a small, smooth stone into Ava's hands. It was violet, and it glowed with a soft light, just like Pim's antennae. "A glowstone from our hill," she said. "So you never forget your friend." "I'll fly you home, Ava," said Zola. "I've made that trip before, and I know the way. Rings, stripes, red, grey, and then blue." Pim hugged Ava tight. "Wave at the Moon for me."

Page 26 · Story

Zola's flying was smooth and quick, past the rings and the stripes and the red and the grey, until the blue marble grew into Ava's own garden once more. Ava waved as the little saucer rose, blinked its three lights, and was gone. She tiptoed up the stairs and slipped under her blanket just as the sky began to turn pink.

Page 27 · Story

When Mommy and Daddy peeked in a little later, they found Ava fast asleep, one hand curled around a small violet stone that glowed with a gentle light. "Where did she get that?" Daddy whispered. Mommy smiled. "No idea." And somewhere far past Saturn, a small lavender friend was dreaming of singing puddles too.

Page 29 · About the book

Made with Epic Tale A personalized storybook created from your child's name, likeness, and imagination. epictale.xyz