Library Mouse- read by Obie
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Library Mouse
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Added: 11 months ago
From: luckee52
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Sam was a library mouse. His home was in a little hole in the wall behind the children's reference books, and he thought that life was very good indeed.
Every day, when the library was full of people walking up and down the aisles, studying, checking out books, and working on the computers, Sam was curled up in his little hole, sound asleep. Every night, when the people went home and the room was dark and quiet, the library belonged to Sam.
And every night, Sam read, and he read, and he read. Sam read pictures books and chapter books. He read biographies and poetry, cookbooks and sports books, fairy tales and ghost stories, and mysteries by the dozen.
Sam's mind was filled with facts and information and images of far-away places, and his imagination brimmed over with wonder and fantasy.
One night Sam decided that it was time he wrote a book of his own!
Sam folded over some little squares of paper he took from the librarian's desk, to make the pages. Then he found a pencil that had rolled underneath the shelf, and he began to write. "Write what you know," Sam had read in a book about writing, so Sam wrote about being a mouse. He drew the pictures for his book by posing in his little mirror and then sketching what he saw.
Sam worked very, very hard, and finally his first book was done. He called it Squeak! A Mouse's Life, and wrote on the cover, "words and pictures by Sam." He went to the biography/autobiography section of the library, and he tucked his first book onto the shelf. Then he went back to his little hole in the wall and waited.
The next afternoon, sunlight streamed in through the library windows.
"What's this?" asked a girl, whose teacher had sent her to the library to do a book report.
"I've never seen anything like this before," said the librarian, and she put Squeak! A Mouse's Life on her desk. Later she showed it to the other librarians.
Same decided to write another book. It was called The Lonely Cheese, and working on the book made him feel very hungry. It was a good thing that he always found so many crumbs to eat by the trash basket in the hallway! When he had finished the illustrations, Sam scurried to the picture book section and proudly placed his latest book on the shelf. Then he went back to his little hole in the wall and waited.
The next afternoon, sunlight streamed in through the library windows.
"What's this?" asked a little boy who was looking for a big book about trucks.
"It's another book by Sam," said the librarian.
"Just who is this Sam?" she thought to herself, and put The Lonely Cheese on her desk.
Later she showed it to the children at story time.
Sam decided to write a chapter book. It was called The Mystery of Mouse Mansion, and it gave Sam goose bumps when he wrote down the scary parts. The full moon was shining down through the windows of the darkened library when Sam crept over to the mystery section and sneakily placed his book on the shelf. Then he went back to his little hole in the wall and waited.
The next afternoon, sunlight streamed in through the library windows.
"What's this?" asked a teenager who was looking for a good creepy book to read before bed.
"We've got to find out who this Sam is," said the librarian. "I'll leave a note on the bulletin board and tell him that I would like to meet our new author!" She put The Mystery of Mouse Mansion on her desk, and later she showed it to the writing class that came in after school.
That night, Sam found the note. It read:
Dear Sam,
All of us at the library have been enjoying your books immensely. We are all wondering who this mysterious Sam really is! Whoever you are, you certainly have a lot of talent. Not everyone has it in them to write even a single book, let alone three! We think it would be fun to have a "Meet the Author Day," with you as our special guest! The children would love to hear you read your books and share some of your secrets for writing.
Yours truly,
Mrs. Forrester, Head Librarian
Sam felt very nervous. He was happy that the children at the library liked his books. He was flattered that they wanted to meet him. But mice, as a rule, are very shy when it comes to meeting people! Sam could not understand why people thought that writing and making up stories was so hard. If only they would try, they might find out that writing was really lots of fun.
Sam had an idea. He went to the librarian's desk and got some supplies. All night long he wrote and drew and snipped and folded and stapled his little rectangles of paper into mouse-size books.
In the morning, when the librarian opened up the children's room, there was a sheet of paper taped to the door.
"Meet the author today!" it read. A little girl was the first to see Sam's display, all set up on the front table.
"What is this?" she asked. There sat a tissue box, with a pair of pencils taped to the sides and a banner stretched across the top. On the banner was written, "Meet the Author!" with an arrow pointing down.
The girl bent over to look in the empty tissue box. "Oh!" she said in surprise, for there at the bottom of the box lay Sam's little mirror, and in the mirror the little girl saw her own face smiling up at her. "Me?" she said. "An author?" Next to the mirror was a stack of tiny blank books and a pile of pencils that Sam had sharpened with his little teeth!
All that day, and for many more thereafter, people came to the little display to "Meet the Author." Soon there was a whole shelf full of books written and illustrated by people who had never written a book before, telling stories that had never been told.
Sam was a library mouse. His home was in a little hole in the wall behind the children's reference books. All that night, Sam sat in this hole, thinking and thinking about the next book he would write. Would it be a mystery? An adventure? A funny book? A true story? There were so many stories to tell!
"Ah," he thought. "I'll just have to write one of each."
Sam picked up his pencil and got to work.
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From amazon.com:
Library Mouse
by Daniel Kirk (Author)
Age Range: 4 - 8 years
Grade Level: Preschool - 4
Lexile Measure: 830L (What's this?)
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Harry N. Abrams; Library Binding edition (September 1, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0810993465
Every child can be a writer - and Library Mouse shows them how!
Beloved children's books author and illustrator Daniel Kirk wonderfully brings to life the story of Sam, a library mouse. Sam's home was in a little hole in the wall in the children's reference books section, and he thought that life was very good indeed. For Sam loved to read. He read picture books and chapter books, biographies and poetry, and ghost stories and mysteries. Sam read so much that finally one day he decided to write books himself!
Sam shared his books with other library visitors by placing them on a bookshelf at night. Until there came the time that people wanted to meet this talented author. Whatever was Sam to do?
The joy of reading, writing, and sharing is brought to life in this warmhearted tale.
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From danielkirk.com:
Put a mouse in a library and you have a sure seller; make the mouse a writer and you have a sure-fire hit. Sam lives in a hole in the wall behind the children's reference books. During the day he sleeps, but at night he reads all kinds of books. One night Sam decides to write and illustrate his own. He writes about himself, and he draws his likeness, posing in a little mirror and sketching what he saw. He slips Squeak! A Mouse's Life into the biography section. A girl finds it and shows it to the librarian, who is intrigued. Then Sam writes more: The Lonely Cheese and The Mystery of Mouse Mansion. Increasingly curious, the librarian posts a note on the bulletin board, inviting Sam to Meet the Author Day. What is Sam to do? His delightfully unexpected solution will inspire kids to write their own stories. In a rainbow of colors, the art, which features a slightly flattened perspective, ranges from small oval pictures of Sam busily sharpening pencils with his teeth to full-page views of the busy library. One great picture shows Sam's face filling the page, dark eyes alight and white whiskers bristling. It's a show-stopper. This is ready-made to introduce a classroom writing activity, though some of the pictures are too small to be appreciated in a large-group readaloud. Even so, this is fun, fun, fun.
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From scholastic.com:
Sam the library mouse begins writing books which delight children and the head librarian. But what will Sam do when he is invited to read his stories to them?
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