“Mom, when will you be a parent helper?” Tyler asked his mom. “Soon,” his mom told him. “But when?” Tyler whined. “Lot’s of parents have been helping in my class. Miranda’s mom helped yesterday. I want you to come and help too.” “I’ll try to come soon, okay? Now we need to hurry so you don’t miss the bus.” his mom said.

Once at school, everyone found a seat on the Circle Time rug. Miss Nell had some exciting news for them. She said, “We will be going to the library in a few minutes.” The entire class cheered, “Yea!” Miss Nell went on to say, “I know that you are all very excited but we need to talk about library manners before we go.”

“What are library manners?” asked Brian. “I know, I know!” said Katie. “They’re rules we need to follow!” “That’s exactly right, Katie!” Miss Nell praised her. “When you’re in the library you need to remember that there is no loud talking or running and that you need to listen to the librarian. When you’re at the library it’s not a free time. On some days, there will be a lesson time about books; today she will be instructing you on how to check out a book.”

“Okay! It’s time to line up at the door!” Miss Nell told the class. Everyone was excited. They quickly lined up and Miss Nell led them to the library. They all remembered being there on their first day of school when they were on their tour of the building but they were a little nervous about this first official library time.

Miss Nell opened the door to the library and told them to pick a seat at one of the tables. She then said, “I’d like you all to say ‘hi’ to, Mrs. Tucker, the librarian.” The entire classed responded, “Hi”. “Okay, gang I’ll be back in a little while,” Miss Nell informed them as she headed out the door. “Miss Nell!” called Aleisha. “Where are you going?” Aleisha looked like she was about to cry. Miss Nell walked back a crossed the room and knelt down beside her. She told Aleisha, “I’m going back to our room to get ready for our next period.” “Can you stay, please?” Aleisha pleaded. “No, I’m sorry. I can’t. But you’re going to have a great time with Mrs. Tucker.” “You sure are!” Mrs. Tucker said. “It’s going to be lots of fun choosing a book to take home! Don’t you think so?” Aleisha didn’t think she was going to like being away from Miss Nell but she gave a reluctant nod. Miss Nell waved as she walked out of the room.

There were so many books Tyler wondered how he was going to choose just one to take home. Fortunately, Mrs. Tucker made it a little easier. She put out a few books on each table for them to choose from. Tyler reached for the book with a dinosaur on the cover but Brian grabbed it. “Hey!” Tyler yelled. “I wanted to look at that book!” Brian yelled right back, “I had it first!” Mrs. Tucker immediately came over to see what the problem was.

After both Tyler and Brian told her their version of what happened, she said, “First, I need to remind both of you to use library manners. There is no yelling in the library, okay?” “Okay,” both boys answered in unison. She then addressed Brian, “Brian, I’d like you to look at the book first and then hand it to Tyler so that he may look at it.”

Brian flipped through a few pages of the book and then slid it across the table to Tyler and said, “I don’t want to bring this book home; it has too many words in it. I was hoping it was just pictures.” Tyler eagerly reached for the book.

Tyler thought it was the greatest book about dinosaurs that he had ever seen. He also thought, “I can’t wait for my mom to help me read it!” Everyone else quickly picked out a book and started to show them to each other. Tyler could see that Miranda and Aleisha were giggling about something from behind their books. They always seemed to be giggling.

Mrs. Tucker started to explain the process of checking out a book when Jerome asked, “Can I go first since I already know how to do it?” “Yes, Jerome you may,” she answered him. “It’s very nice of you to offer to show your friends how to do something new.” Several children rolled their eyes and a few sighed. Some students were getting tired of Jerome always knowing everything. All of the children made it through the process without a problem. Mrs. Tucker told them that they did a great job and if they gathered on the rug, she would read a story to them.

She chose one about jungle animals. The story was so interesting that the children were all surprised when Miss Nell came into the room. They couldn’t believe their library time was over already. Even Aleisha thought the time had passed quickly. She also discovered that she was able to do things at school without Miss Nell’s help. She liked how that made her feel.

Miss Nell asked, “Did you all have a fun time?” “Yes,” was the response that everyone but Miranda gave. Miranda said, “Miss Nell, there’s something I need to tell you.” And without waiting for Miss Nell to answer, she went on to say, “Tyler and Brian had a fight!” “Well, I’m sure Mrs. Tucker settled the problem,” was all Miss Nell had to say concerning it. She then told them, “We need to go back to our room. It’s time for our Reading, Writing & Rhyming lesson.”

As they walked back to the classroom, Tyler thought again about how exciting it was going to be to show his mom his library book. It was going to be so hard to wait until he got home. He hoped she would be able to read it right after his snack.

When they got to their classroom door, Miss Nell told them that the parent helper had already arrived and they were to go directly to their seats so they could get started on their work.

When Tyler walked into the room he was a little confused and a lot surprised as he said, “Mom!”