Santanu did not have much in this world. He owned a few items of clothing， a pair of cheap-looking trainers， a few pens， and a book. An obsolete book.

People didnt own books anymore. The year was 2042 and for the children at Santanus school， a book seemed as ancient as a suit of armour or a castle. Everyone had the latest phones and electronic tablets. They owned ibooks， laptops and computers. Santanu did not have any of these things because his family was poor. People didnt call him because he didnt have a phone. Nobody emailed him because he didnt have a computer. His friends thought that he was weird and often teased him for being so out of touch.

But his book was his solace. It was a very old book. When he opened it， a funny smell wafted up from the pages. It smelled old and damp.

What the book was about was a mystery to Santanu. He mainly used it as a notebook， writing story ideas in the margins， or his friends phone numbers and email addresses. Just in case he ever needed them one day.

His best friend Crystal was also very poor. But even she had a mobile phone. She liked Santanus book and often wrote stories in it with him. She had nowhere else to keep all of her passwords so she wrote them in Santanus book.

One sunny day， the children in the playground were louder than usual， talking all at once with slightly panicked looks on their faces. They had their phones in their hands and all of them were trying to text or call， but it seemed like it wasnt working.

The headmaster， Mr. Williams， looked nervous as he told the children what had happened.

“Now I know you have all been very worried，” he said，“but we must remain calm. There seems to have been an electrical problem. The Internet has crashed and it is going to be tricky for all of us， but we must stay calm and work out what we are going to do.”

In 2042 almost everything was operated by the Internet. Nothing was tangible. You could not touch information like in Santanus book. Everything relied on the Internet： light switches， televisions， mobile phones and computers. And now nothing worked！

The children grew noisy and unsettled. They were scared. Nothing like this had ever happened before. How would they communicate？ What would they do with their free time？ What did anybody do before television and computer games and email？

The bell rang and the children were herded into their classrooms， still restless and afraid. The whiteboards didnt work. The computers didnt work. The teachers tried to make the children practice their handwriting skills instead but they were all terrible at writing. Nobody used pens anymore！

The days drifted from one to another. Nobody knew when the computers would come back on. The children didnt know what to do with themselves. They wandered out into the streets but they did not know where their friends lived because they only ever talked to them over the phone or online.

Eventually word got around the school that Santanu had an encyclopedia of information in his little book： names and addresses and phone numbers. One day， an older boy called Kai followed Santanu home and demanded to know his friends address which Santanu had meticulously noted on the inside cover of his book. Santanu agreed to give the boy the address， that is， if he could go with him and play. That is how it started. That is how Santanu met lots of friends and made up new games for them all. He enjoyed playing face to face. He enjoyed the real world instead of computers.

One day， the children were all playing in a deserted part of town when it started raining. They all ran for shelter beside the door to a big orange brick building. One by one they piled against the door to protect themselves from the rain， until there was a terrible creaking sound and the door caved inwards so that the children all fell inside， one on top of the other in a huge bundle.

Santanu was the first to get to his feet. He rubbed his eyes and looked around. “Books！ Look at all these books！”he cried. “What is this place？”

“I dont know，” replied his friend Crystal. “Its like an old house.”

There was a large desk in the centre of the room and above the desk there was a sign. It said “Returns and Issuing Desk” . Above that there was an even bigger sign hanging from the ceiling. It said “Public Library”.

None of the children knew what the word “library”meant but it didnt matter. Santanu could not believe his eyes. He wandered down the aisles touching the spines of all the books. It was like a forbidden palace， a secret place only the children knew about.

As the weeks passed， more and more children arrived at the library after school. They would read to each other or read quietly to themselves curled up under blankets. They would play chase and hide and seek and make up stories of their own.

Santanu liked to roam the aisles reading just a few sentences from each book. He read bits of A History of the World in 100 Objects， A Brief History of Time， 20000 Leagues Under the Sea， and even Thomas The Tank Engine. Anything he could get his hands on.

One Saturday， when Santanu arrived at the library late in the morning， he noticed how silent it was. There were no children anywhere. Santanu wondered if they had all been caught by a grown-up and thrown out. Then Crystal emerged meekly from behind the “travel”section.

“Theyve fixed the problem，” she said. “The computers and Internet are all working again. Everybody has gone home.”

She asked Santanu for her passwords and then， rather sheepishly， she walked out of the door leaving Santanu alone with all the books.

The young boy stared at the rows of shelves all lined with books. He thought about all of the stories inside the books and felt sad that nobody would ever take the time to read them. But then he smiled to himself， took a book from the nearest shelf and curled up under a blanket in his favorite corner of the library. The book was called The Hobbit and Santanu was sure it would be a great read.

桑坦努在这个世界上拥有的东西不多。他有几件衣服、一双廉价的运动鞋、几支笔以及一本书。一本过时的旧书。

人们已经不再拥有书了。那是在2042年，对在桑坦努的学校读书的孩子来说，书似乎是像盔甲和城堡一样古老的东西。大家都拥有最新的手机和平板电脑。他们有电子书、笔记本和电脑。这些东西桑坦努一样也没有，因为他家里很穷。大家不会给他打电话因为他没有手机，没有人给他发邮件，因为他没有电脑。他的朋友都觉得他这个人很怪，经常嘲笑他的落伍。

但是他的书能给他带来慰藉。那是一本很旧的书。他一打开这本书，一股奇怪的味道便从纸上飘荡开来。那是一股陈旧而潮湿的味道。

桑坦努看不懂书上的内容。他主要把它当作记事本使用，在页面的空白处记下一些故事灵感，或是他朋友的电话号码和邮箱地址，以备不时之需。

他最好的朋友克丽丝图也很穷。但就连她也有一部手机。她喜欢桑坦努的书，经常和他一起在上面写故事。她没别的地方可以写下密码，所以她把全部密码都记在了桑坦努的书上。

有一天，阳光灿烂，操场上的孩子们比平常喧闹了些，他们全体略显惊慌地说着话。他们手里拿着手机，正在试图发短信或者打电话，但似乎都不行。

校长威廉斯先生神情紧张地告诉这些孩子发生了什么事。

“我知道你们现在都很担心，”他说，“但我们必须保持镇定。好像是电力方面出了些问题。网络已经瘫痪了，接下来的状况对我们所有人来说都是一个挑战，但我们必须保持镇定，找出应对的方法。

在2042年，几乎所有的东西都是由网络操控的。所有东西都是無形的。与桑坦努的书不同，所有的信息都是无法碰触的。一切都依靠网络：照明、电视、手机以及电脑。而现在，所有的一切都无法运转！

孩子们变得愈加吵闹不安。他们感到害怕。以前从未发生过这种事。他们要怎么交流？他们要在空闲时间做些什么？在没有电视、电脑和电子邮件之前，人们都做些什么？

上课铃响了，孩子们回到教室，他们依然觉得恐惧不安。黑板用不了。电脑用不了。于是，老师便让学生练习写字，但他们的字都写得很差。现在已经没有人再使用笔了。

日子一天天地过去。没人知道什么时候才用得了电脑。孩子们都不知道该做些什么。他们走到了大街上，但都不知道朋友们住在哪里，因为他们都只在电话和网上聊天。

最后，学校流传起：桑坦努有一本小小的书，书里有着百科全书般的信息——姓名、地址和电话号码。有一天，一个叫凯的大男孩跟着桑坦努回家，并问桑坦努要他朋友的地址，桑坦努把他朋友的地址小心翼翼地记在他书上的内封面里了。桑坦努同意把地址给那个男孩，只要男孩答应和桑坦努做朋友，和他一起玩。这便是一切的开端。桑坦努就这样交了很多朋友，为他们想出了许多新游戏。他喜欢和人面对面地玩耍。他喜欢真实的世界而不是虚拟世界。

一天，孩子们正在镇上一个荒废的地方玩耍，天空突然开始下起雨来。他们跑到一座橘色的砖建大楼的门前避雨。为了不让雨淋到，他们抵着大门一个挨着一个挤作一团，直到大门发出一声巨响，向内坍塌，孩子们便都往里面栽了下去，一个压着一个，摔成一堆。

桑坦努第一个站了起来。他揉揉眼睛，看向周围。“书！快看，这些都是书！”他大喊道。“这是什么地方？”

“不知道，”他的朋友克丽丝图回答道。“这看起来像是座老房子。”

房间中间有一张大桌子，桌子上有一个指示牌，上面写着：“图书借还处”。天花板上挂着一个更大的牌子，写着：“公共图书馆”。

这些孩子都不知道“图书馆”是什么意思，但这无关紧要。桑坦努无法相信他的眼睛。他沿着过道走过去，抚摸着这些书的书脊。这里就像一个禁地，一个只有小孩子才知道的秘密基地。

时间一周周地过去，越来越多的孩子在放学后来到这个图书馆。他们会互相读书给对方听或者自己一个人裹着毯子安静地阅读。他们会玩抓鬼游戏、捉迷藏、以及自己想故事。

桑坦努喜欢穿梭在过道间，把每本书都读上几句话。他读了一点儿《大英博物馆世界简史》、《时间简史》、《海底两万里》，甚至是《小火车头托马斯》，凡是他的手够得到的书他都拿来看看。

一个星期六上午，当桑坦努去到图书馆时，他发现这里一片寂静。桑坦努想他们是不是都被大人抓到给赶了出去。然后，克丽丝图从“旅游”阅览区后面静静地走了出来。

“他们把问题解决了，”她说道，“电脑和网络都重新运转了。大家都回家了。”

她向桑坦努询问她的密码，然后怯怯地走出门外，把桑坦努和所有的书留在身后。

小男孩盯着书架上一排排的书。想到没有人会再花时间看这些书里的故事，他为之感到伤心。但他很快便对自己笑了笑，从最近的书架取出一本书，裹着毯子在他最喜欢的角落里看了起来。这本书叫《霍比特人》，桑坦努肯定这本书会很精彩。