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.