Book Bind Library

Books towered above Ms. Pratipity on the shelves of the cozy aisle where she stood looking down at a little scrap of paper in her hand. 

The phrase, "Good luck," was followed by a little snicker, which caught and spread to the others. "Yeah, good luck," was repeated from someplace behind Ms. Pratipity's knees. "Yeah, good luck," was repeated again. This time from a spot in front of her, to her right. 

Ms. Pratipity stepped to her right and put her hands on her sides, above her hips. "Now, who said that?", she asked. Then she stared at the row of books shelved directly in front of her. There was silence as she stared. 

Several of the books at one side of the shelf laid flat. On the other side, a few stood straight. All the books in between leaned to the left in a long, crooked row of books.

"Yea, who said that?", came from behind Ms. Pratipity's head somewhere to the left of her ear. 

"Yeah, who said that?", came from up high farther to her right on the shelves in front of her. The remark was followed by a contagious snicker which spread quickly to several different places in the aisle. 

Ms. Pratipity hardly even turned her body as she took a few swift steps towards the source of the remark. Her hands were still on her hips, and she lifted her chin to look up to the top of the shelves. "Who's that?", she asked as she continued to stare at the spot where the voice had come from. There, there were a handful of books sitting on a shelf, which was otherwise mostly empty.

The books on the shelf answered her with silence. There were a few thick hardcover ones. One of which was taller than the other books it shared the shelf with. Several of the books were paperbacks. For the most part, those books were noticeably thinner than the hardcover books. 

She staired at the silent books and waited for a response. "Hmmm?", she pressed when there was no answer. 

After she persisted to stare for several seconds, two tiny eyes opened up on the spine of a tall slender paperback sandwiched between the tallest hard cover and a shorter one. The book said, "It wasn't me," and its eyes shot two quick glances at the shorter hardcover book to its left. "Hey, why look at me like that?", the hardcover shot back. "Well, it's you she's looking for." The paper back retorted. The hardcover huffed aloud, and said, "Well that's no excuse. It was Ms. Pratipity who started it after all! Wasn't it?"

At that, books all up and down the aisle chuckled and snickered. "It was Ms. Pratipity," one said, and several others repeated, "It was Ms. Pratipity," "It was Ms. Pratipity."

"Yeah, you started it, Ms. Pratipity," said one. "Yeah, you did," said another.

"Oh, be serious you books," Ms. Pratipity said. "I was only looking for the silly book who made the remark to begin with. Now, wasn't I?" Then, she took the paper in her hand and waved it as a show, and said, "Now, I have work to be getting on with. You silly books."

"Which of us books are you looking for Ms. Pratipity?", came a voice from somewhere farther down the aisle. There was a silence as the books waited for Ms. Pratipity to answer. 

"Oh, it's a nice book," said Ms. Pratipity. 

Just then, a book behind her stifled a giggle. Ms. Pratipity turned around and said, "What's this about? What's to giggle about?" "Oh, don't mind that book," said one book just in front of her. Another said, "Yeah Ms. Pratipity. Tell us about the nice book you're looking for." "Yeah, what's so nice about it, Ms. Pratipity?", asked another.

"The book I'm looking for teaches its readers about the wonders of the world," said Ms. Pratipity. "That's nice," said a short white covered paperback just to the left of Ms. Pratipity's knees. "Isn't it though?", she said. "Yeah, it's nice," said a book from somewhere behind her.

"I wish I knew about the wonders of the world," said a gruff voice a slight way to Ms. Pratipity's right. "Oh, do you? Who's that there?", said Ms. Pratipity, and peered closely at the books in that spot. She read the spine of a book out loud slowly, "Lyman Cutler's Pig War," but the book said, "No, it wasn't me," rather meekly. Then, with a scrunch of its little paperback lips and a nod of its little paperback face, the book notioned to the book it was beside, and quietly said, "It was Theodore."

"Yeah, Ms. Pratipity, it was me," the book said, in its gruff voice. Ms. Pratipity looked at the book's spine. "Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders and the Spanish American War," she read aloud. "You'd like to know about the wonders of the world, would you, Theodore?", she asked.

"Yeah Ms. Pratipity. It's such a big world, and I don't know much about it," the book said. A voice from behind Ms. Pratipity said, "Yeah, we're just books. We don't know much." At that, a volley of laughter began. One book would laugh, and then, when it had finished, another would laugh. The volley of laughs moved from one spot to another, all over the aisle.

Ms. Pratipity straightened and said, "Now you books are teasing me."

"Not me, Ms. Pratipity," said Theodore. "I really don't know about the wonders of the world." "Me neither," came another voice from a long way down the aisle. "Don't mind those books, Ms. Pratipity," came a voice very familiar to Ms. Pratipity. To her, the voice sounded like a cloud of big burgundy rubber bubbles. Of course, a voice couldn't sound like bubbles, but any time the book spoke, if she closed her eyes and listened, she dreamt of big rubber bubbles appearing with each word and then vanishing into an inky, black background.

She turned around and walked to where she knew the set of books would be.

"Ah, Mr. Encyclopedia of the World's history. I see you're all together," she said. Often times, the eleven book encyclopedia set, with the voice that sounded like burgundy rubber bubbles, was not altogether. Throughout the day, students would take bits and pieces of him to the study area, where big heavy maple study desks and sturdy maple chairs were sorted on top of a burgundy carpet. There, they would search his books, through and through, for facts that they could use in their papers.

"Why yes, Ms. Pratipity, I am altogether here on my shelf at the moment. It seems world history has had a slow turn of events in classrooms this week," came his bubbly voice from out of thick brown lips that looked somewhat like leather stuffed full of cotton, though they were neither leather nor where they stuffed with cotton. 

The encyclopedia set was only a few inches above Ms. Pratipity's eyes, and it was alone on its shelf. The shelf was nearly filled entirely, from left to right, with books belonging to the set. She looked at the long row of books, which she knew to be Mr. Encyclopedia of the World's history, and she said, "Well aren't you a long row of books when your all together?"

Mr. Encyclopedia replied, "Well the world has a long history, and I make every effort to make each and every significant detail available to the nice young students who come to me for facts."

"And you do a fine job of it," said Ms. Pratipity. "Yeah, he does," came a voice from the shelf beside Mr. Encyclopedia. "He does," came another voice, one from somewhere behind Ms. Pratipity.

"Ms. Pratipity," Mr. Encyclopedia said, "might you tell us more about the book you're looking for?"

"The book I'm looking for is called The Magical Wonders of Our Natural World," said Ms. Pratipity.

"The Magical Wonders," came a deep voice from near Ms. Pratipity's waist. Then, "Of Our Natural World," followed in a higher pitched voice from the same location. 

Ms. Pratipity looked down at the shelf the books had spoken from and said, "Mr. World War One and Mrs. World War Two, do the wonders of our world interest the pair of you?"

Mr. World War One said, in his deep voice, "Magical Wonders of Our Natural World sounds absolutely wonderous." Then, Mrs. World War Two said, in her higher pitched voice, "It sounds absolutely magicalous, too."

Mr. Encyclopedia asked, "Is it really a book about magic, Ms. Pratipity?"

"Oh, no, it's not that," Ms. Pratipity answered. "Its a book about the wonders of Earth that nature has created. There's really nothing magical about nature, now is there?"

"Well then, why is it titled Magical Wonders, Ms. Pratipity?", asked a book form farther down the aisle.

"I'm sure it's just meant to be an aw inspiring flourish of words," said Ms. Pratipity. "There's nothing wrong with that in a title is there? Besides, the book explains the theory behind how the wonders of the world came to be. If the wonders at first appear to be magical, and then the book explains why they are not, well then, the title just makes sense then doesn't it?"

"Why it certainly does, Ms. Pratipity," said Mr. Encyclopedia.

"It certainly does," chimed in Mr. World War One and Mrs. World War Two, in unison.

Ms. Pratipity looked down at the piece of paper and said, "The book should be at 97.9485 Ned, so if you books will excuse me, there is a student who will be along to pick the book up shortly." Then, she walked down the aisle to the shelf where the book should be.

After she had looked the shelf over for several long moments and not found the book, a hushed "sshh" came from somewhere on the shelves behind her.

When Ms. Pratipity put her hands back on her sides and turned around to look for the sshh'ing book on that side of the aisle, another hushed "sshh" sound came from somewhere on the side of the aisle she'd just turned her back on. "What's all this shushing about?", she asked. "And where on the shelves might The Magical Wonders of Our Natural World be, being that it's not in its catalogued location?"

"The Magical Wonders isn't the only one," came a voice from a little way down the aisle.

At that, books all over the aisle hushed the book who had spoken up.

"My, my, all you books! What is all this hushing about?", Ms. Pratipity asked. Then, when she did, another series of hushes happened all over the aisle. One book said, "Don't tell her," which was repeated by a few other books in different spots all over the aisle. "Don't tell her," "don't tell her," they whispered.

Ms. Pratipity repeated the renegade book's words, "The Magical Wonders isn't the only one." Then she hmm'ed to herself while she examined the catalogue numbers of the books on the shelf in front of her. "My, my," she said as she pulled a book from the shelf "Just how did you get here, Adventures of Cavalier Carl? You most certainly belong on the fiction aisle." "Wherever I lay my head, I call home," said Cavalier Carl from where he was held in Ms. Pratipity's hand.

Ms. Pratipity began examining the books on each shelf. There were many other fiction books on the aisle. There were adventure books, fairytale books, mystery books, and many more. "My, you books are such a mess," said Ms. Pratipity. "It's a shame I can't find The Magical Wonders. It's for such an especially nice young student."

At that, books began hushing one another all up and down the aisle.

Mr. Encyclopedia's rubbery bubbly voice sounded above all the hushing though. He said, "Whatever is so especially nice about this particular student, Ms. Pratipity?"

Ms. Pratipity said, "Well, though all students are mostly very nice young men and women, and very well intentioned, this particular student is going to join the Peace Brigade after he graduates. Isn't that a nice thing to do?"

At that, books all up and down the aisle voiced their agreement.

Ms. Pratipity said, "It's too bad that I have to spend all this time straightening out you books in order to fill the nice young student's book hold. It may make things rather difficult for him before he graduates. Besides, there are still many other students who have holds on books they'll need in order to graduate."

"Oh, but us books are such a mess," said a book just in font of Ms. Pratipity. "Yeah, Ms. Pratipity, we're a mess," said the book just beside the first one.

"Well, if you books will help me fill the hold on The Magical Wonders of Our Natural World, and on all of the other holds I have for today," said Ms. Pratipity, "I promise I'll come back and sort you mess of books out later."

Mr. Encyclopedia spoke up at that. He said, "Well, since we need to be sorted, and Ms. Pratipity needs to fill student holds, why don't we books help Ms. Pratipity now. Then she can help us later. That way every one gets the help they need, us books, as well as all of Ms. Pratipity's students.

Books all up and down the aisle debated the idea amongst themselves. Then eventually, after much whispering debate in small close groups, a general consensus was decided upon. "Ok," declared small groups of books all over the aisle, one after another, as they confirmed agreement with each previous group's consent. "Ok, sounds good," "ok, brilliant idea," some said.

"Well fine then," said Mr. Encyclopedia. "So, it's settled. We books will help Ms. Pratipity find The Magical Wonders of Our Natural World, then." 

"Fine then," "fine then," came agreement from each opposite end of the aisle.

"Ms. Pratipity, we books will accept your suggestion and help you find your books if you'll help us straighten ourselves out," said Mr. Encyclopedia.

"Thank you," said Ms. Pratipity, "your help will be every welcomed."

"Alright you books," said Mr. Encyclopedia, in his bubbly voice, "let's help Ms. Pratipity find The Magical Wonders of Our Natural World."

Then, after a moment of silence all up and down the aisle of book shelves, Ms. Pratipity said, "Well, dear, it must be a shy book since it hasn't spoken up yet. We'll have to help it." At that, little book eyes opened on the spines of all of the books on the aisle. Their tiny eyes looked at the titles of the books beside them to search for the one with "The Magical Wonders of Our Natural World" printed on its spine.

 It was hardly any time at all before a quiet voice said, in what was a feint whisper, "It's here next to me on the end of my shelf."

"It's next to a shy book," said Mr. Encyclopedia. "Where is your shelf shy book?"

"Over here with letter P," whispered the book. Ms. Pratipity followed its voice to a shelf that was at her knees about a quarter of the way from one end of the aisle. She looked at one end of the shelf, but it wasn't there. Then, she looked at the other end and found it there. "Oh, you quiet book," she said, and pulled it off the shelf.