THE LIBRARY DRAGON

Miss Lotta Scales, the new librarian at Sunrise Elementary, is a real dragon, literally and figuratively. She won't lend out books, won't even let the children touch them for that matter. The very thought of their sticky fingers desecrating her books makes her flare. She even has the gall to incinerate books that defame dragons. Not surprisingly, the kids come to hate library day. Then Molly Brickmeyer rolls into the library in search of her glasses. Nearsighted to a fault, Molly bumps into a bookshelf, a book pops into her lap, and she commences to read aloud. Rumors of a storytime—a practice forbidden by Miss Scales—spread through the school like prairie fire. Even Miss Scales is mesmerized by Molly's reading, transformed even, into sweet Miss Lotty, librarian and storyteller. Deedy (Agatha's Feather Bed, 1991) has a chance to handle some issues both large and small, from censorship to book burning to terminal crotchetiness. Unfortunately, they are left here to dangle without being faced four-square. Entertaining nevertheless, with snappy confections from newcomer White. (Fiction/Picture book. 4-8)