Ryers Readers - Wild About Books

Episode Date: December 1, 2023

Molly McGrew accidentally drove her bookmobile into the zoo! Since that day, the animals have been going wild, simply wild, about wonderful books!!

Let's do this! Thank you so much for tuning into today's story. Don't forget to rate and follow so you never miss out on all the Ryer's Reader's fun. And if you're looking for even more fun, come join me on the Ryer's Reader's Patreon page, where you can find ad-free episodes, bonus content, and even become a Ryer's Reader's celebrity. Before we get into the story, do you want to know a fun fact? Did you know that the Tasmanian devil is the largest meat-eating marsupial in the world?

They have very powerful jaws and make a very loud screeching sound, which helped them get their name, especially since they are nocturnal. Pretty cool, huh? Okay, story time! Today, we are going to read Wild About Books by Judy Ski. Sierra. It all started the summer of 2002 when the Springfield librarian Molly McGrew, by mistake, drove her bookmobile into the zoo. Molly opened the door and she let down the stair, turned on the computer and sat in her chair. At first, all the animals watched from a distance, but Molly

could conquer the strongest resistance. By reading aloud from a the good Dr. Seuss, she quickly attracted a mink and a moose, a wombat, an oryx, a lemur, a lynx, eight elephant calves, and a family of skinks. In a flash, every beast in the zoo was stampeding to learn all about this new something called reading. Forsaking their niches, their nests, and their nooks, they went wild, simply wild, about wonderful books, choosing thin books and fat books and cat in the hat books, and new books and true books and heaps of how-to books. Giraffes wanted tall books, and crickets craved small books, while geckos could only read stick to the wall books. The pandas demanded more books in Chinese, Molly filled their requests,

always eager to please. She even found waterproof books for the otter, who never went swimming without Harry Potter. Raccoons read alone and baboons read in bunches, and llamas read dramas while eating their lunches. Haina shared joked with the red-bellied snakes, and they howled and they hissed till their furry, funny bones ached. A tree kangaroo who adored Nancy Drew,

began solving mysteries right there at the zoo, such as, Why were the Banticoot's books overdue? Gently, Molly taught lessons in treating books right, for the boa constrictor squeezed cricketer too tight. Baby bunnies mucked up Good Night Moon with their paws. Giant termites devoured the Wizard of Oz. And Bear's loves of books was completely outrageous. They licked all the pictures right off the pages.

Tasmanian devils found books so exciting that soon they had given up fighting for writing. They made up adventures so thrilling and knew that the others decided to be authors too. Pythons wrote with their tails, penguins wrote with their bills, and porcupines wrote with their very own quills. At the new insect zoo, bugs were scribbling haiku.

The scorpion gave each a stinging review. As the Cheetah's new novel began to take shape, he read chapters each night to the Barbary ape, and although the gazelle couldn't spell very well, like everyone else, she had stories to tell. Imagine the hippos' enormous surprise when her memoir was given, was given the zoo litter prize. With so many books, Molly knew what to do.

She hired 12 beavers, a stork and a new to build a branch library there at the zoo. Then the animals cried, we can do it ourselves. We can check the books out. We can put them on shelves. And they did. And they do up to this very day. Three cheers for the zoo brary. Hip, hip, hooray! When you visit the zoo now, you surely won't mind if the animals seem just a bit hard to find.

They are snug in their niches, their nests, and their nooks, going wild, simply wild, about wonderful books. The end. Don't forget to stick around to see if you can answer today's paying attention question. Before you go, do you think you can answer today's paying attention question? What was the new library at the zoo called? If your answer was, the zoo brary, you did it! Great job! You sure were paying attention! I hope you enjoyed that story.

I wonder what we're going to read next.