Undercover bookworms, p.1
Undercover Bookworms, page 1
SHHHHHHHH!
“Just one more,” eight-year-old Joe Hardy encouraged his older brother, Frank.
Joe picked up a thick volume of classic detective stories and climbed onto the step stool.
“I don’t know, Joe.” Frank’s voice quivered. So did the impossibly tall stack of books he was trying to carry through the mystery section of the Bayport Junior Public Library.
“Don’t give up now, bro.” Joe gently placed the book atop the teetering stack. “I think this is a world record.”
“I’m less worried about breaking records than returning these to the shelves so I can get to the rest of my Junior Librarian duties.” Frank took a cautious step forward. “How am I supposed to see where I’m going?”
Frank was a summer volunteer at the Bayport Junior Public Library—or BJPL for short—and he was determined to do a good job. Joe was taking a break from reading comics to help out. Sort of.
“Teamwork!” Joe said. “Just like when we solve a mystery. We’re the best kid detectives in all of Bayport. We’ve cracked some of the toughest cases in town. Putting a few books back should be a cinch. Now just follow my voice.”
“Okay,” Frank replied uncertainly from behind the swaying tower of books.
“The author of this one is Victor Appleton, so let’s head for the As.” Joe marched confidently down the aisle. “This way!”
Frank took a slow step forward. Only his foot didn’t land on the library’s worn-down carpet. It smacked right into another step stool instead. Frank fell forward, and so did the books.
“Ahhhhhh!” he cried as a tsunami of paperbacks and hardcovers swept over Joe.
“Whoops,” Joe uttered, now standing amid a messy pile of books. “I guess that last book was the mystery that broke the detectives’ stack.”
“What in the world is going on here?!” a woman’s voice demanded from the end of the aisle.
Harriet Porter had blond hair, round wire-rimmed glasses, and a BJPL T-shirt with a picture of a worm reading a book. The worm had glasses just like hers.
“I’m sorry, boss,” Frank said to the head librarian. “Joe was helping me put the returned books back, but I tried to carry too many at once.”
Harriet stared wide-eyed at the books scattered all over the floor.
Joe gave her a guilty smile. “Sorry.”
“Why are you carrying them by hand in the first place?” the librarian asked Frank.
“The cart’s broken,” Frank said.
She groaned. “Again?”
Frank nodded. “Marni is using the other one.”
He pointed to a middle school girl in a Winnie-the-Pooh costume pushing a loaded cart past the end of the aisle. Marni loved to cosplay famous book characters, and she always showed up in a different costume. The boys could hear the cart’s loose wheel clunking with every rotation, making it sound like a wobbly shopping cart.
“I think it might be time for an upgrade,” Joe suggested.
“We can barely afford to keep fixing the rusty old antiques we have. Forget about getting new ones.” Harriet took off her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “How does the town council expect us to keep things running smoothly when they won’t even put enough money in the budget for basic equipment or maintenance?”
“Hopefully lots of people will show up for the council meeting tomorrow night to show their support.” Frank nodded toward the front of the library, where a sign stood beside the checkout desk. It read:
THE BAYPORT BOOKWORMS NEED YOU!
SIGN THE PETITION & TELL THE TOWN COUNCIL TO SUPPORT THE JUNIOR PUBLIC LIBRARY!
Next to the poster, right behind the desk, was a large aquarium. It wasn’t filled with water, though. It was filled with dirt. And instead of fish, it was crawling with the library’s mascots—real live worms!
“If things don’t go well at the meeting, I don’t know what we’ll do.” Harriet twisted her hands together. “This is the only library branch in the whole region devoted just to children’s literature and kids. If they cut the budget any more, we might have to close a few days a week, and that would be a loss for the whole community.”
“They can’t cut the budget!” Joe glanced around the busy library. There were kids of all ages reading, using the computers, and doing lots of other activities. Some of them were hand-painting their own SUPPORT THE LIBRARY signs. “This is one of the best hangouts around.”
“I sure hope you’re right,” the librarian said. “We provide an important service for Bayport’s kids, but we don’t make money for the town, and some of the council members care more about that than books.” She sighed deeply. “Or kids.”
“It will work out,” Frank insisted. “It’s got to!”
“Too bad you boys aren’t on the town council.” Harriet picked a book up off the floor and handed it to Frank. “Go ahead and get this mess cleaned up. I’m going to try fixing that other cart—”
Before she could finish, there was a commotion in the quiet reading section at the back of the library.
“That doesn’t sound very quiet—” Joe started to say, but he was interrupted too. By someone screaming!
ROBED RUCKUS
Harriet ran toward a bright, bold sign at the back of the library that read QUIET CORNER. The boys were right behind her.
“Gandalf is clearly the best wizard!” a boy in a burgundy robe shouted across one of the tables at a girl in a Bayport Elementary School Environment Club T-shirt.
The girl looked at him over the top of a large book about tree identification and shrugged. “Sorry, Jeff, I’m team Merlin. Although Dumbledore is pretty cool too.”
“What?!” Jeff shrieked.
“Shhhhh!” Marni rushed over, holding a finger up to her lips. “This is the quiet reading area.”
“I’m not going to shhhhh until Kitty admits who the world’s the top wizard is,” Jeff insisted loudly.
“You want to know who the top wizard in this library is?” Harriet interrupted, jabbing a ballpoint pen in Jeff’s direction. “Me, and if you don’t quiet down this instant, I’m going to wave my magic wand and make you disappear.” The librarian whirled her pen in the air and pointed at the front door. “Right out of the building.”
Jeff hung his head and pulled the robe tighter around himself. It looked a lot like a wizard’s robe, only instead of a crest, there was a patch with the Bayport Bookworm logo on the chest. The words REIGNING READER were stitched below it in gold thread.
“This is the second time I’ve had to warn you, Jeff,” Harriet said sternly. “Just because you earned the right to wear the Reading Robe doesn’t mean you get to ignore the rules. I expect more out of my Reigning Readers.”
Every week, the kid who read the most books got to wear the Reading Robe. There were actually a few robes in different sizes to make sure each Reigning Reader had a robe that fit, but Harriet only ever gave out one at a time. Frank had worn the robe proudly a few times, but Jeff had been the Reigning Reader for three straight weeks, a BJPL record.
“I just get really excited about the characters I like,” Jeff explained.
“If you think he gets worked up about wizards, don’t even get him started on elves,” Kitty warned as she tucked her book under her arm and stood up. “Yesterday he picked a fight with the entire Keeper of the Lost Cities fan club.” She pointed up at the QUIET CORNER sign and walked off. “I’m going to find a quieter corner to read in.”
Harriet rubbed her eyes. “I appreciate your passion for literary debate, Jeff, but yelling at people who disagree with you isn’t acceptable. One more strike, and you’re out of the library for an entire week.”
Everyone gasped. Harriet almost never kicked anyone out.
“I’m sorry, Harriet,” Jeff said meekly. “I’ll do better.”
“What’s all the ruckus?” a deep voice asked.
When the boys looked up, they saw a man with a neatly trimmed goatee. He had on a nice button-down shirt and was carrying a leather briefcase. A black-and-white toy poodle poked its head out of a pocket on the side.
“Hey, Councilman Tom,” Harriet greeted the man. “Sorry about the disturbance. Some of our readers can get a little too excited about books.”
“Hi, Tom. Jeff Le Guin. Nice to meet ya!” Jeff rushed over with his hand outstretched. “I’m a big fan of your work on the town council.”
Tom laughed and shook Jeff’s hand. “A budding politician, I see.”
Jeff nodded eagerly. He was the president of Joe’s class at Bayport Elementary, and everyone at school knew he hoped to run for a real public office someday.
There was a sudden tiny growl from Tom’s side. When they looked down, the toy poodle was chewing furiously on a number 2 pencil.
“Put that down, Mulley,” Tom said, taking the pencil from the poodle and scratching its head affectionately.
“Puppy!” Marni bounced up and down before turning to Tom. “Is it okay if I say ‘hi’?”
“Go for it,” Tom said. “She’s a real people pup.”
Marni knelt down to the briefcase and offered her hand for the little dog to sniff. “She has her own puppy pocket!”
“I had it custom made so she’d be able to go everywhere with me,” Tom said. “I’m pretty sure Mulley is the most spoiled dog in Bayport.”
“How’s the library budget vote looking, Councilman?” Harriet asked cautiously.
Tom frowned. “That’s actually what I came to tell you. You know that I and some of the other council member
“Not the golf course?” The librarian rolled her eyes.
“Upgrading the public golf course has a lot of support.” Tom glanced across the room to the other side of the library, where Kitty had just reappeared, plopping into a torn but comfy oversize chair to read her tree book in peace. Kitty’s mom, Bonnie Becker, was the town council president—and four-time champ of the local golf tournament. There had been lots of articles in the Bayport Bugle about how she and Kitty had won last year’s adult and kid tournaments.
“A couple of key votes are still undecided, and well—” Tom paused. “Some of the other council members don’t think it’s worth spending extra money to keep a separate library branch open when they already have a lot of the same books at the main library.”
“But BJPL has some of the most popular educational programs around!” Frank exclaimed.
“And it gives kids a place to spend time when they’re not in school!” Marni said, tugging on her Pooh ears.
“And you can never have enough books!” Jeff insisted, twisting the belt of his robe.
“All of the above and then some!” Joe added.
“I agree with all of you, and I’m going to do my best to help keep it that way, but—” Tom looked around the library and grimaced. “If the other council members saw how it looked in here, it would be hard to convince them.”
“But how are we supposed to fix things and keep them nice when the council won’t give us any money for maintenance?” Harriet protested.
“It’s not just that,” Tom said apologetically. “There’s nobody watching the front desk.” Harriet bit her lip. “You can hear kids yelling from the sidewalk.” Jeff looked down at his feet. “There are books all over the floor.” This time it was Frank and Joe who looked down. “And even worse, the door to the Rare Reads room is wide open.”
Harriet gasped, and both Jeff and Marni whimpered.
Rare Reads was a special locked room on the other side of the library that held BJPL’s rarest, most valuable books and comics. The most prized—like a signed first edition of the world-famous children’s book Magical Moon—were kept in locked glass display cases. Being let into the room to read was a special privilege. Rare Reads books couldn’t be checked out like regular books, but kids who took a pledge to follow a strict set of rules were allowed to sign in to have the room unlocked so they could read inside. The two most important rules were to be super-duper careful with the books and to never, ever leave the room unattended.
“Anyone could walk right in,” Tom continued. “Those books are town property. That first edition of Magical Moon is worth a fortune. It was a big decision to let the BJPL keep a signed copy of one of the most famous books ever. If it got damaged or lost—” Tom sighed. “I hate to say this, but maybe they really would be safer at the main library.”
Harriet narrowed her eyes at Marni. “Why is the door to Rare Reads open?”
Once a Junior Librarian graduated from elementary school, Harriet gave them more responsibilities. The ones she trusted most, like Marni, even got to use the keys.
“It’s not my fault!” Marni pointed at Jeff, who had gone pale. “He signed in to read The Wild World of Wizarding. I closed the door behind him, just like I’m supposed to.”
Jeff froze in place with his mouth open. The door locked automatically and could only be opened without a key from the inside.
Harriet’s narrowed eyes swung from Marni to Jeff. The librarian could get frustrated sometimes when kids misbehaved, but she was usually really good at keeping her cool. This time, though, she started turning red.
“You left the Rare Reads room door open to go pick a book fight with Kitty?”
“I, um, uh—” Jeff fumbled.
“Strike three!” she shouted like a major-league umpire. “You’re out!”
“But—” Jeff didn’t get a chance to finish.
“Get your things and go.” The librarian aimed her finger at the door. “But the robe stays.”
Frank and Joe gasped, and Jeff’s lip started quivering.
“Not the robe,” he pleaded.
But Harriet wasn’t backing down.
“The robe.”
A tear fell from the corner of Jeff’s eye and ran slowly down his cheek.
For the first time in the history of the Bayport Junior Public Library, the Reigning Reader had lost their robe.
BOOK BANISHMENT
Jeff slowly removed the robe but couldn’t bring himself to let go when Harriet tried to take it.
“Please,” he begged.
“If you care about the library, you’ll follow my rules, and you can come back next week.” The librarian mumbled the next part under her breath. “If there’s a library to come back to.”
Jeff growled and ran robeless from the Quiet Corner, bumping into Tom as he fled. Mulley leaped from her puppy pocket and Tom’s briefcase fell to the floor, spilling papers everywhere.
“You’ll be sorry for this!” Jeff cried before disappearing from sight.
Harriet scrambled to help the councilman pick up his papers. “I’m so sorry, Tom. I promise nothing like this will happen again.”
“That’s actually why I’m here, unfortunately.”
The serious tone in Tom’s voice made Harriet stop and look up.
“I wanted to tell you in person, since we’re friends. There’s been a change to the agenda for the council meeting. We aren’t just voting on whether to cut the junior library’s budget. The vote is on whether to close it altogether.”
“No!” the boys, Marni, and Harriet all blurted at the same time.
“But the junior library is a Bayport cultural landmark!” Frank exclaimed.
Tom frowned. “Nothing is decided yet, and I’m still going to fight for you, but it doesn’t look good.”
“You’re not going to tell everyone about what happened with Jeff leaving the Rare Reads room open, are you?” Harriet asked hesitantly.
“I’m going to close the room up now!” Marni ran as quickly as she could from the Quiet Corner, calling back over her shoulder, “I’ll never let anyone read a Rare Read unsupervised again, I promise!”
Tom watched Marni go, then turned back to Harriet. “I’ll do my best to soften the blow, but I have an obligation as an elected official to report what happened here to the council.”
Harriet bit her lip. “But that could give Bonnie Becker all the reason she needs to convince the other council members to give the money to the golf course instead!”
“Don’t give up, Harriet. There’s still a chance.” Tom tucked Mulley back into her puppy pocket. “I’m sorry we didn’t come with happier news.”
Frank and Joe stood by Harriet’s side as she watched the councilman leave.
“The Bayport Junior Library is my whole life.” Harriet’s voice was barely a whisper. “I don’t know what I’ll do if they shut us down.”
“It means a lot to all of us,” Joe said.
“Half the kids in Bayport depend on it,” Frank added. “They can’t really shut it down, can they?”
“Even with Councilman Tom’s support, we’re going to have to pull off a miracle before the council meeting tomorrow night, or the junior library could be closed”—the librarian gulped—“forever.”
They heard the jingle of the front door as Tom opened it to leave.
That wasn’t the only thing they heard. There was another scream, this time from the direction of Rare Reads. Everyone turned, including Tom.
“Harriet!” Marni wailed. “Come quick! Magical Moon! It’s gone!”
CASE OPEN
Frank and Joe sprinted for the Rare Reads room alongside Harriet. When they got there, Jeff wasn’t the only thing that was gone.
The room was small but cozy and filled with old books. Some of them were on shelves with their spines out like normal library books and some were displayed behind wall-mounted cases to show off their covers. In the center of the room was a reading table, around which stood three separate glass cases atop pedestals. They each had a little light inside like you might see shining down on a museum’s most precious objects. There was a mint-condition classic superhero comic in the one on the left and a two-hundred-year-old book of fairy tales in the one on the right. The case in the middle had a light just like the other two, but the only thing illuminated by this one was empty space.
