KIRK

ANIEL KIRK
SCHOt .
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For my friends at the Glen Rid^e Library, the Kids at Glen Acres School,
and all the librarians and teachers whose joy it is to help us discover
a world of imagination through reading and writing.
-D. K.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored

in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, without written permission of the publisher.
For information regarding permission, write to
Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of
Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 115 West 18th Street,
New York, NY 10011.

ISBN-13: 978-0-545-10960-4
ISBN-10: 0-545-10960-4

Text and illustrations copyright © 2007 by Daniel Kirk.

All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc.,
557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012, by arrangement
with Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of
Harry N. Abrams, Inc. SCHOLASTIC and associated
logos are trademarks and/or registered
trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 8 9 10 11 12 13/0

Printed in the U.S.A. 40

First Scholastic printing, September 2008

Book design by Chad W. Beckerman

SAM WAS A LIBRARY MOUSE. His home was in a
little hole in the wall behind the children's reference
books, and he thought that life was very good indeed
 Every day, when the library was full of people walking
up and down the aisles, studying, checking out books,
and working on the computers, Sam was curled up in
his little hole, sound asleep. Every night, when the
people went home and the room was dark and quiet,
the library belonged to Sam.
 TRAVEL

And every night Sam read, and

he read, and he read. Sam read
picture books and chapter books.
He read biographies and poetry,
cookbooks and sports books,
fairy tales and ghost stories,
and mysteries by the dozen.
 Sam's mind was filled with facts and information
and images of far-away places, and his imagination
brimmed over with wonder and fantasy.
 One night Sam decided that it was time he

wrote a book of his own!

 Sam folded over some little squares of paper he took
from the librarian's desk, to make the pages. Then he
found a pencil that had rolled underneath a shelf, and
he began to write. "Write what you know," Sam had
read in a book about writing, so Sam wrote about being
a mouse. He drew the pictures for his book by posing
in his little mirror and then sketching what he saw.
 Sam worked very, very hard, and
finally his first book was done. He
called it Squeak! A Mouse's Life,
and he wrote on the cover, "words
and pictures by Sam." He went to
the biography/autobiography section
of the library, and he tucked his first
book onto the shelf. Then he went
back to his little hole in the wall
and waited.
4
V 3
1
m />
 The next afternoon, sunlight streamed in through
the library windows.
"What's this?" asked a girl whose teacher had sent
her to the library to do a book report.
"I've never seen anything like this before," said
the librarian, and she put Squeak! A Mouse's Life on
her desk. Later she showed it to the other librarians.
 Sam decided to write another book. It was called
The Lonely Cheese, and working on the book made
him feel very hungry. It was a good thing that he
always found so many crumbs to eat by the trash
basket in the hallway! When he had finished
the illustrations, Sam scurried to the picture book
section and proudly placed his latest book on the
shelf. Then he went back to his little hole in the
wall and waited.
 *

*S& ^I0F ^t> v*

Lonely
[C^eeSe
 The next morning, sunlight streamed in through
the library windows.
"What's this?" asked a little boy who was looking
for a big book about trucks.
"It's another book by Sam," said the librarian.
"Just who is this Sam?" she thought to herself, and
put The Lonely Cheese on her desk.
Later she showed it to the children at story time.
 Sam decided to write a chapter
book. It was called The Mystery of
Mouse Mansion, and it gave Sam
goose bumps when he wrote down
the scary parts. The full moon was
shining down through the windows
of the darkened library when Sam
crept over to the mystery section
and sneakily placed his book on the
shelf. Then he went back to his little
hole in the wall and waited.
 The next day, sunlight streamed in through
the library windows.
"What's this?" asked a teenager who was
looking for a good creepy book to read before bed.
"We've got to find out who this Sam is," said

the librarian. "I'll leave a note on the bulletin

board and tell him that I would like to meet our

new author!" She put The Mystery of Mouse

Mansion on her desk, and later she showed it

to the writing class that came in after school.

That night, Sam found the note. It read:

I^^TI-^J^c^

Dear Sam,

A(( of us at the library have been enjoying

your books immensely.We are all wondering
cfi^bothis mysterious Sam ready Is! Whoever
you are, you certainly have a lot of talent.
Not everyone has it In them to write even a
single book, let alone three! We think It m>oulc4
be fun to have a "Meet the Author Day," uwlth
you as our special guest! The children uuo\j,[d
love to hear you readJ your books and! share
some of your Secrets for writing.
Yours truly,
Mrs. Forrester, Uezdl Libr^ri^n

\
 Sam felt very nervous. He was happy that the children
at the library liked his books. He was flattered that
they wanted to meet him. But mice, as a ruler are
very shy when it comes to meeting people! Sam could
not understand why people thought that writing and
making up stories was so hard. If only they would try,
they might find out that writing was really lots of fun.
Sam had an idea. He went to the librarian's desk
and got some supplies. All night long he wrote and
drew and snipped and folded and stapled his little
rectangles of paper into mouse-size books.
M

1 Meet the Author/ f

4,
 In the morning, when the librarian
opened up the children's room, there
was a sheet of paper taped to the door.
"Meet the author today!" it read. A
little girl was the first to see Sam's
display, all set up on the front table.
"What is this?" she asked. There sat
a tissue box, with a pair of pencils
taped to the sides and a banner
stretched across the top. On the
banner was written, "Meet the
Author!" with an arrow pointing down.

4
J
 The girl bent over to look in
the empty tissue box. "Oh!"
she said in surprise, for there at
the bottom of the box lay Sam's
little mirror, and in the mirror the
little girl saw her own face smiling
up at her. "Me?" she said. "An
author?" Next to the mirror was
a stack of tiny blank books and a
^ pile of pencils that Sam had
sharpened with his little teeth!
 All that day, and for many more thereafter,
people came to the little display to "Meet the
Author." Soon there was a whole shelf full of
books written and illustrated by people who had
never written a book before, telling stories that
had never been told.
 Sam was a library mouse. His home was in a little

hole in the wall behind the children's reference books.

All that night, Sam sat in his hole, thinking and thinking

about the next book he would write. Would it be a

mystery? An adventure? A funny book? A true story?

There were so many stories to tell. "Aha!" he thought.

"I'll just have to write one of each!"

Sam picked up his pencil and got to work.

Cover illustrations copyright © 2007 Daniel Kirk

ISBN-13: 1?»-Q-SnS-lS«3k-1 M.99 I

This edition is available for ISBN-10: D-SM5-15*3l.-7
distribution only through
the school market.

UUiLl£
www.scholastic.com 1 760545" lS43be1