Public Library Enemy #1 Read online

  For Yasemin and Sheila, Book Heroes — C.A.

  ISBN 978-1-77138-689-0 (EPUB)

  Text © 2016 Caroline Adderson

  Illustrations © 2016 Kids Can Press

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of Kids Can Press Ltd. or, in case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a license from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access Copyright license, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777 .

  This is a work of fiction and any resemblance of characters to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

  Kids Can Press acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Ontario, through the Ontario Media Development Corporation’s Ontario Book Initiative; the Ontario Arts Council; the Canada Council for the Arts; and the Government of Canada, through the CBF, for our publishing activity.

  Published in Canada by

  Kids Can Press Ltd.

  25 Dockside Drive

  Toronto, ON M5A 0B5

  Published in the U.S. by

  Kids Can Press Ltd.

  2250 Military Road

  Tonawanda, NY 14150

  www.kidscanpress.com

  Edited by Yasemin Uçar

  Series designed by Rachel Di Salle

  Designed by Julia Naimska

  Illustrations by Mike Shiell, based on illustrations by Ben Clanton in Jasper John Dooley, Books 1–4

  Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

  Adderson, Caroline, author

  Public library enemy #1 / written by Caroline Adderson ; illustrated by Mike Shiell.

  (Jasper John Dooley ; 6)

  ISBN 978-1-77138-015-7 (bound)

  I. Shiell, Mike, illustrator II. Title. III. Title: Jasper John Dooley, public library enemy #1.

  IV. Series: Adderson, Caroline. Jasper John Dooley ; 6.

  PS8551.D3267P832016 jC813’.54 C2015-904305-0

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter 1

  After school, Jasper John Dooley and his friend Ori rode their bikes to the library with Jasper’s mom. Mom needed to pick up something from the store. “I’ll be back in ten minutes,” she said. “Stay in the children’s area, okay?”

  “Okay!”

  Jasper and Ori raced each other up the steps. They got to the top at the same time and found a sign taped to the door.

  Under the words was a picture of a very grumpy dog.

  Ori said, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a dog frown before.”

  “What day is it?” Jasper asked.

  “Monday,” Ori said.

  “What time?”

  They burst into the library and looked around for the clock. It was high on the wall, above the desk where the librarian sat like a hen on a nest. Jasper didn’t like time with hands. He liked time with just numbers.

  “Is it three thirty?” he asked the librarian.

  She looked at the clock. “It’s a little past four.” She smiled at Jasper and Ori and pointed to the long, long line behind them. It snaked from the children’s area almost to the computers. So so so many kids wanted to read to Molly the Dog!

  “Are we too late?” Ori asked.

  “Everybody reads for five minutes,” the librarian told them. “Unless some readers get tired of waiting, you’ll have a better chance on Wednesday.”

  “So some kids might get tired of waiting?” Jasper asked.

  “I suppose they might,” the librarian said.

  “Let’s get in line,” Jasper told Ori.

  First, they needed to see Molly the Dog up close. They peeked around the shelves into the children’s area. Zoë from their class was sitting in the big, comfy chair with the flower splotches. There was a pile of hair beside her.

  “Is that Molly?” Ori asked.

  The two of them crept closer to get a better look. When they were almost beside Zoë, Jasper recognized the book in her hands. It was the ballerina book Ms. Tosh had started reading aloud at school, the one about Cheeky the Squirrel.

  “Cheeky, Cheeky, Cheeky,” Zoë droned on.

  The pile of hair beside Zoë looked like a wig that had blown off somebody’s head, until the wig lifted its funny pushed-in face and stared straight at Jasper with its huge brown eyes. Her tail wagged, but her face was still frowning. She didn’t like that book at all!

  Jasper reached out to pat Molly. Then Ori did. Finally, Zoë noticed the boys crouched beside her. “Jasper John Dooley! Ori Spivak! Wait your turn!”

  Jasper and Ori scurried back around the bookshelf.

  “Molly hates Zoë’s book,” Jasper told Ori. “It’s about ballerinas. She probably doesn’t even know what a ballerina is.”

  “The thing is, we need a dog book, not a ballerina book.”

  “Or a book about things dogs like.”

  “What do dogs like?” Ori asked.

  They went back to the librarian.

  “It really doesn’t matter what you read,” the librarian told them. “She just enjoys sitting on your lap and listening to the sound of your voice.”

  Jasper found that hard to believe. It was probably listening to boring books from three thirty to four thirty Monday, Wednesday and Friday that made Molly so grumpy. Jasper felt grumpy, too, whenever Ms. Tosh read them books about ballerinas.

  “What kind of dog is Molly?” Ori asked.

  “Pekingese, I believe,” the librarian said. “But I’m not one-hundred-percent sure. I’m a Cat Person.”

  Ori asked where the dog books were. The librarian got up and led them over to the shelf.

  There weren’t any books about Pekingese dogs.

  “What about this?” Ori asked Jasper, holding out a book about Saint Bernards. “Or this?” He showed him one about Labrador retrievers.

  “Let’s find something else,” Jasper said. “But no ballerinas.”

  “No ballerinas,” Ori agreed. He moved to the next shelf and pulled down a book about rockets. “She’ll love this!”

  “How do you know she’ll love it?” Jasper asked, but Ori had already opened the book and started reading.

  Jasper glanced over his shoulder. Zoë had finished her turn, and now a boy with glasses was reading to Molly in the big flower-splotch chair. On the cover of his book was a picture of a bulldozer. Molly was frowning her head off.

  Jasper started pulling down books, looking for something — anything — that Molly would enjoy. Then Mom showed up.

  “They have a new reading program,” she said.

  “We know,” Jasper told her. “We’re looking for a book that will make Molly stop frowning. It can’t be about ballerinas or bulldozers.”

  “You’ll have to pick it for next time,” Mom said.

  “There’s still a chance we’ll get to read to Molly,” Jasper told her.

  Mom pointed to the line. Eight fidgety kids were still waiting. Then Mom showed Jasper her watch. All he saw was hands.

  “There are only ten minutes left,” she told him.

  “Some of those kids might give up and go home,” Jasper said.

  Mom sighed. “Sorry, but that’s what we have to do, Jasper.”

  “But we didn’t get a turn!”

  They went to check out the books.
Mom had to steer Ori by the back of his neck because his face was in the rocket book. She had to drag Jasper because he didn’t want to leave. She handed him his library card to slide across the counter to the librarian.

  “Cheer up, Jasper J. Dooley,” the librarian said. “Molly’s here three days a week.” She checked out Ori’s book next and told him, “You come back, too, Ori D. Spivak.”

  They left the library, Mom and Jasper both a little grumpy.

  Ori was reading so hard he didn’t notice.

  Chapter 2

  The next day, Ms. Tosh read aloud again from the Cheeky the Squirrel book. As soon as Ms. Tosh said the word ballet, Jasper flopped onto his table. He put a finger on the stopper part of each ear and pressed it again and again. That way Ms. Tosh sounded like she was reading underwater.

  “Glub-glub-glub. Glub-glub-glub.”

  Molly should have pushed her paws to her ears like this yesterday at the library when Zoë was reading to her. If Molly even had paws and ears. Jasper hadn’t noticed any under all her hair.

  Then the recess bell rang. Luckily, Jasper heard it through the glubbing. He and Ori ran outside together. The girls raced past them and started playing one of their crazy games around the playground equipment. This time they were stuffing each other’s socks with pinecones and twirling around with knobby ankles. Jasper and Ori climbed to the top of the jungle gym and sat there, swinging their legs. Jasper was still thinking about Molly.

  “Didn’t Molly look like a wig?” he asked Ori.

  “That’s what we should have read to her,” Ori said. “A book about wigs.”

  Jasper laughed. “Let’s go back today. Maybe they have a wig book.”

  Ori said, “Sure.”

  “Maybe we can find some wigs to wear!”

  They laughed and laughed until Jasper remembered the poster that said Monday, Wednesday and Friday from three thirty to four thirty.

  “Oh, it’s Tuesday,” he said, just before he got an idea.

  After school, Mom was waiting to walk them home. “Can Ori come over?” Jasper asked.

  “Sure,” Mom said.

  “Oh, good,” Ori said. “We’re going to practice our reading skills!”

  Mom said, “Really? I’ve never seen you two so enthusiastic about schoolwork.”

  “We’re enthusiastic,” Jasper told her. “We’re so so so enthusiastic!”

  Ori ran down the alley to his house to let his mom know he had a playdate. Jasper and Mom waited. When Ori came back carrying the book about rockets, they walked on.

  Jasper told Mom, “We need a big piece of paper.”

  “What for?” she asked.

  “And we need small pieces of paper,” Ori said.

  “Why small pieces of paper?” Jasper asked.

  “Tickets!” Ori said.

  “What are you two up to?” Mom asked as she unlocked the door. “I’m really curious.”

  “It’s a surprise,” Jasper said.

  “The paper’s in the craft cupboard. I’ll make you a snack while you work on your surprise.”

  Jasper took a piece of yellow construction paper from the craft cupboard and felt pens from the jar. Ori found scrap paper and scissors. They went to Jasper’s room.

  Ori folded and refolded a piece of paper to make lines. He cut along the lines until he made thirty-two tickets. On each one he wrote a number.

  “What if more than thirty-two pets come?” he asked.

  “We’ll make more tickets,” Jasper said.

  Jasper’s sign read:

  Then they went into the kitchen for their snack, which was blueberries and cheese cubes. Jasper brought the sign.

  “What a good idea,” Mom said. “You can set up in the front yard, like a lemonade stand.”

  “The thing is,” Ori told her, “that’s what we’re going to do.”

  “And it’s nice of you to include cats and hamsters,” Mom said.

  “Some people are Cat People,” Jasper said. “Some people are Dog People. Some people are Hamster People.”

  “What are you?” Mom asked.

  “I’m a Molly the Dog Person,” he said. “But only on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I’m an All Pets Person the rest of the time.”

  Ori looked over the sign again. “What about Bird People?”

  Jasper ran back to his room for the felt pen. He added bird to the sign.

  Then he added rabbit. “We don’t want to leave any kind of people out,” he said.

  “You’d better take the pen outside with you,” Mom said.

  “Good idea,” Jasper said.

  Jasper and Ori and Mom took two trips to carry out the other things they needed: their snack, Jasper’s small table and two small chairs, the library books Jasper had borrowed yesterday, Ori’s rocket book and an empty jam jar for the used tickets. They set the table and chairs right beside the sidewalk where everybody would pass. Ori found a rock to hold down the pile of tickets in case it got windy. Mom taped the sign to the tree.

  “I hope you get a lot of customers,” she said before she went back inside.

  Jasper and Ori ate the blueberries and cheese cubes while they waited. After a few minutes, Jasper got up and added guinea pig to the sign. Ori started reading the book about rockets.

  They waited.

  “Here’s something I could read to Molly,” Ori told Jasper after a few minutes. “It’s about a dog that went to space in a rocket.”

  Jasper pictured Molly in a rocket ship. In the picture she was frowning. “I really don’t think Molly would like that.”

  Ori flipped the pages and read some more.

  “We could go to space in a real rocket,” he said. “We’d just need two hundred and fifty dollars with three zeros at the end.”

  “Two hundred and fifty dollars?” Jasper said. “That’s a lot.”

  He got up and wrote snake on the sign.

  “Please cross that out,” Ori said.

  Somebody was coming. Jasper dashed back to his chair. From the other end of the block, somebody was walking toward them holding a leash. At the end of the leash was an animal. A so so big animal.

  “Is … Is that a horse?” Ori asked.

  Jasper squinted. Yes! A woman was walking toward them leading a shaggy black and brown horse. Jasper jumped up and quickly added horse to the sign.

  But as the horse got closer they saw it was Rollo, who only looked like a big shaggy horse with its ears hanging down. Rollo belonged to Isabel from their class. The woman walking Rollo was Isabel’s nanny, Mandy. Whenever Mandy walked Rollo by the school at recess, all the kids rushed over to pat him.

  As soon as Rollo saw Jasper and Ori, he bounded toward them, nearly pulling the leash out of Mandy’s hand. Ori leaped up and ducked behind the tree so he wouldn’t get clobbered by Rollo’s big, waggy tail, or licked by Rollo’s big, slobbery tongue. Jasper wasn’t afraid. He patted Rollo.

  Mandy read the sign on the tree. “Hey, Rollo. Let’s stop and hear a story. Sit, boy.”

  Rollo sat on the grass. “He needs a ticket,” Ori said. He crept out from behind the tree, lifted the rock and handed Mandy ticket Number 1. She put it in the empty jam jar.

  Jasper held up the books for Rollo to choose. Rollo licked the one about rockets. He liked rockets. Or he liked the cheese-cube taste Ori’s fingers had smeared on the book.

  “Read to him about the dog who went to space,” Ori said, scooting behind the tree again.

  The dog who went to space was named Laika. She was the first dog astronaut in the world.

  Rollo really liked the sound of Jasper’s voice as he read. His big, waggy tail began slashing back and forth. Then Rollo flopped onto the ground and rolled over. He wriggled in the grass like his back was itchy.

  “He’s not even listening,” Ori said.

  Rollo had lost focus.

  Jasper closed the book. “That’s enough. Thanks, Rollo.”

  It was fun reading to Rollo, but not as much fun as reading to Molly would hav
e been because Rollo couldn’t sit in Jasper’s lap. If he did, it would be Very Dangerous.

  “Good reading,” Mandy said. She reached in her pocket and took out some change. Jasper and Ori couldn’t believe their eyes when she dropped it in the jar.

  “Thanks!” they said.

  After Rollo and Mandy left, Jasper and Ori dumped the change onto the table and divided it. “I didn’t expect her to pay us,” Jasper said.

  “The thing is, neither did I!”

  Ori started to count the money, but Jasper said, “Forget the math!” He swept half the coins into the jar. “I wonder who’ll come by next? Another Dog Person? Or maybe a Hamster Person?”

  “I wonder if they’ll pay us,” Ori said.

  They waited a long time, but nobody else came by with a pet they could read to. Finally, Mom called out that it was four thirty. Ori helped Jasper bring everything inside. Then he went home with the book about rockets, across the alley and one house down.

  Chapter 3

  After supper, Mom had to go to a meeting. Jasper and Dad stayed home. Jasper brought a library book and the jar with Mandy’s money to the living room, where Dad was watching golf on TV. The book was about toilet-paper-tube crafts. He stood in front of Dad and shook the jar so it jangled.

  Dad looked up.

  “You know how at a coffee shop they always have a jar next to the cash register?” Jasper asked. “How does it work?”

  “If the server does a good job, you put your change in the jar. It’s called a tip jar,” Dad said.

  “Isabel’s nanny gave me a tip for reading to Rollo,” Jasper said. “I didn’t ask for money.”

  “You can’t ask for a tip. You just do a good job and hope you’ll get one.”

  “Oh,” Jasper said.

  He set the tip jar on the arm of the sofa. Then he pulled ticket Number 2 out of his pocket and handed it to Dad.

  “What’s this?” Dad asked.

  “It’s your ticket. You can put it in the tip jar, too.”

  Dad did, and Jasper settled down beside him and opened the book. “Wow!” he said. “Look at all the stuff you can make from toilet-paper tubes.”