The Mystery

of the

Disappearing

Lightbulbs

Author: Mervat Al-Beltagi Illustrator: Maya Abboud

The original work of this book was made possible through the generous support of the All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development (ACR GCD) Partners (the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), World Vision, and the Australian Government). It was prepared by Asafeer Education Technologies FZ LLC and does not necessarily reflect the views of the ACR GCD Partners. Any adaptation or translation of this work should not be considered an official ACR GCD translation and ACR GCD shall not be liable for any content or error in this translation.

Hello my friends.

My name is Zed.

Can you see me?

Of course, you can.

A few days ago, it was very difficult to see anything.

Do you know what happened?

One mysterious night all the lightbulbs disappeared.

No not only in my house, they disappeared from the

entire village.

It was dark everywhere.

It was terrible and horrible.

We felt frightened.

We searched everywhere but we couldn’t find the lightbulbs.

The village people had a meeting to discuss the disappearing of our lightbulbs.

They asked, “Where are our lightbulbs? Who stole them and why?”

I thought of a solution to this mystery.

There has to be a great secret behind this.

I’ll have to find out who stole the lightbulbs.

Every thief must leave evidence behind.

I put on my Sherlock Holmes hat, got a magnifying glass

and started searching all over.

When I arrived at my window sill, I felt so victorious and yelled, “Got it!”

It was a long black thick strand of hair. I yelled,

“The thief left behind this strand of hair. It must belong to him. I’ll have to find him. I wonder who he is?”

“It might be a monkey! It might be a deer!

It might be a giant ogre!

An ogre? Oh no! I’m terrified.”

Anyways, I’ll calm down and be brave. I held my magnifying glass and looked at the ground to follow any other clue the thief left.

I searched and searched. I climbed mountains and descended plains.

I passed the forest without finding anyone having the same hair strand.

I was so exhausted, so I stopped to rest, when suddenly I saw something shining from far away.

I wondered where could this light be coming from?

The whole village is totally out of light.

I snuck as swiftly as a monkey until I arrived at a cave in the

mountain. It emitted a strong light and here was the surprise.

All of the village lightbulbs were stuffed in this cave. Here are

my lightbulbs and those my neighbors’ lightbulbs, but they are

all disassembled. Who did that? And where is the thief?

Then a strange voice came deep down from inside the cave

and said, “I took the lightbulbs”. I shivered, and my knees

trembled. Who has this terrible voice?

The bear sat down indifferently and said, “Yes Zed, it was me”

When I asked him, “but why did you do this?” He replied…

A bear with thick, long black hair came out from the cave. I asked him in amazement, “Aren’t you the Andean spectacled bear?

You have long thick hair and you are certainly the one who took our lightbulbs.”

“I’m one of a few left of my kind. I have no company and no one to care for me. So, I thought maybe if I fill my cave with light, it will shine like a star in the sky.”

“Then, any other bear of my kind will find me easily and come and spend some time with me.”

I asked, “Why didn’t you tell us instead of taking our lightbulbs? I can help you solve your problem only if you return all the lightbulbs you’ve stolen.”

The bear felt relieved and said, “You will find the remains of your lightbulbs in this cart. These lightbulbs consume lots of electricity.

I received a huge bill, so I exchanged them for energy saving ones from the nearby village.”

I looked at the lightbulbs and suddenly I got a great idea that turned things upside down.

I took the lightbulbs in the cart and hurried to my friends to get their help.

We colored and reused all the lightbulbs as vases with lovely different patterns. My friends and I were so creative in making them using colors, threads and cactus.

Then we sold all the old lightbulbs as vases and bought new

energy saving lightbulbs with the money. We distributed them to the village people. They were so happy they can save money on their bill now.

As for our friend the lonely spectacled bear. My friends and I took turns in visiting him and keeping him company.

He even visited our school and participated in the school play.

It was the best play our acting crew ever took part in. Acting jobs for the spectacled bear were offered left and right.

That’s why you can see me clearly now my friends after discovering the mystery of the disappearing lightbulbs.

Suddenly, Zed’s mother yelled anxiously,

“Zed, the fridge disappeared!”

I wonder who stole it this time.

The End