1. Manners in the Media Center Welcome to the Brandenburg Primary Library Media Center. We have a beautiful and exciting library and we need your help to keep it that way. You can do that by using your manners when you visit the Library Media Center. Today, I’m going to tell you what happened last year in our library.

2. Mrs. Doutaz didn’t know when she bought these stuffed animals from the store that they were magic!

3. I just wanted some characters from Dr. Seuss stories to place on a shelf near the Cat in the Hat reading poster.

4. So, I set them on the top of the bookshelf above all the books by Dr. Seuss, like The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

5. One day I went home after school to be with my family. The library media center was dark. Something happened that night in the middle of the library!

6. First the biggest Cat in the Hat crawled down off the shelf. Then, the smaller Cat climbed down. Finally, Thing 1 and Thing 2 crawled off the shelf.

7. They were not bad characters. They had never been in a Library Media Center before. They began to explore. The Cats laid on the pillows and sat on the tables. Thing 1 and Thing 2 crawled on the shelves and on the walls.

8. One Cat began banging on the keyboard of the computer even though he didn’t know what to do.

9. Thing 2 began pulling books off the bookshelf and leaving them on the floor!

10. One Cat began jumping up and down on the pillows and dragging them all over the Library. Later, the characters were climbing all over Clifford!

11. And, Thing 1 and Thing 2 pulled the chairs out from the table, but didn’t push them back in when they were finished and someone could have fallen over them.

12. They did not know how to act in the Library. They did not have any library manners. They grew tired after their night of mischief and fell asleep on the bench.

13. The next morning I came into the library. I could not believe what a mess the library was! And I wondered what were those characters doing on the bench?

14. So, I cleaned up the mess. However, the next morning, I found the characters asleep on the bench again and the Library was a mess, again!

15. I wanted to know what was going on. One afternoon I pretended to leave and sneaked back in the library to watch the Cats and Thing 1 and Thing 2.

16. The characters were up to their usual tricks, but I caught them and asked why they were behaving that way. All of the characters cried when they realized all the trouble they had caused.

17. I realized the characters were not really bad. They had just never learned any library manners. So, I taught them how to behave in the Library Media Center.

18. They learned that you don’t climb on the furniture. We don’t run or jump in the Library Media Center. You walk and talk quietly so you don’t disturb others.

19. They learned that you are very careful with the library books because many different people read them.

20. They learned that you should ask a teacher for help if you need it, and that you should push in your chair when you leave it.

21. They learned to listen quietly to stories and to raise their hand when they had a question.

22. They learned all about library manners and when they had learned all about how to be good in the Library Media Center, I let them pick out a library book to share with their family and friends.

23. The End