Ann Martin: Stacey And The Mystery At The Mall

And that was how Mal was talked into story hour. It didn't take much persuading, because Mal thought it sounded like fun. But when she arrived at the store that afternoon and saw the big sign outside advertising story hour — with her name, Mallory Pike, in bold red letters— well, that’s when she started to feel nervous. Maybe, she thought, this was a bigger deal than she had realized.

She headed for the children's section and found Ms. Munro there, setting up the stage. There was a chair for Mal, with a pile of books next to it. "I hope you don't mind, but I picked out a few books for your first time," said Ms. Munro. "The kids always like these, and sometimes it’s best to start with books that are tried and true. Next time, you can pick out your own."

Mal sat down and looked over the books. One of them was Stone Soup, which had been a favorite of her brother Nicky's. Then there was The Cat in the Hat, which her sisters Claire and Margo absolutely loved. And the third one was a huge, oversized edition of Tikki Tikki Tembo, a book Mal herself had always liked. "These look great," she told Ms. Munro.

"I wish I had more of the really big books," said Ms. Munro, gesturing toward Tikki Tikki Tembo. "The kids adore them. Anyway, why don't you take some time to read through those?" She checked her watch. "You have fifteen minutes or so,"

But about five minutes later, the kids began to arrive, and before Mal knew it she had what looked to her like a huge audience. "There

were probably only fifteen kids there," she told me later, "but from up on the stage it looked like there were fifteen hundred."

The kids, who mostly ranged in age from three to five or so, seemed restless. A few parents were there, but a lot of the kids were on their own. Mal figured their parents must be using story hour as sort of a baby-sitter while they went shopping in the mall. The noise level was high as the kids settled in. A boy in the front row was poking his friend, who squealed and giggled and poked him back. Two girls were running from spot to spot, trying to find the best seats. And a baby who sat on its mother's lap was beginning to get fussy. Mal glanced at the dock on the wall. She wasn't supposed to start for another five minutes, but she had a feeling she might have a small riot on her hands if she waited that long.

Taking a deep breath, Mal reached for Stone Soup. "Hi," she said, looking out at the crowd of kids. They ignored her. "Hi," she said more loudly. This time they looked up at her. "Welcome to the BookCenter story hour!" she said, trying to sound enthusiastic and confident. "My name is Mallory, and I'm going to read you a few books today."

"Can you read The Little Red Hen?" called a

small girl with a red bow in her hair.

"Urn, well, not today," said Mal. "Maybe next week."

"How about Barney and the Bully?" asked a boy wearing a Barney T-shirt.

Mal didn't even know if such a book existed, so she just shook her head. "I don't have that one, but I think you'll like the ones I do have." She held up Stone Soup. "This one is called Stone Soup. Do any of you know this story?"

A girl in the front row raised her hand. "My teacher read that to us last week," she said. "It's fun."

"Great," said Mal. "Let’s get started." She opened the book and began to read.

Do you know the story of Stone Soup? There are a few different versions of it, but basically, it's about how a group of people cooperate to make a wonderful meal, even when they think they have no food at all. They start a pot of water boiling, and add some "magic" stones. Then one person adds a carrot, and another one adds a potato, and somebody else adds some cabbage. Before you know it, there's a big pot of delicious soup. it’s a great story.

But Mal was having some trouble convincing the kids of that fact. They still seemed restless, and they weren't paying much attention. Mal tried to put a lot of expression into her reading, and after she read each page, she held

up the book so the kids could see the picture. She even tried to read with the book held up next to her, so they could see the picture as she read, but that was pretty hard.

Finally one of the boys yelled out, "This is a dumb story. And the pictures are too little. I can't even see what the people look like!"

Mal blushed. Her first story hour was bombing in a big way. She glanced down at the floor and saw Tikki Tikki Tembo. "Okay," she said. "How about if we move on to the next book? This one has really big pictures." She picked it up and showed it to them.

"Yea!" yelled a couple of kids. Mal looked around at her audience and noticed that it had grown. A couple of slightly older kids were there now, kids Mal thought she had seen in the bookstore before. One was a blonde girl who looked about six, and the other was a boy, obviously her brother (he had the same turned-up nose, Mal told me), and apparently a couple of years older. They were on their own, and they were a little dirty and scruffy, but they were behaving well. The girl looked up at Mal and smiled. "I love that book. I can say Tikki Tikki Tembo's whole name," she said.

"Good," said Mal. "I hope everybody will be able to do that by the time we finish reading this." She opened the book and tried to hold

it up so everybody could see. It was a huge book, so the pictures were big enough, but it was floppy. Mal struggled to keep it upright as she began to read.

Tikki Tikki Tembo is the story of two young brothers who live in a small mountain village in China. One of them is named Chang. He is the second-born son, and so, because it’s the custom, he has a very short name. But his older brother, the first-born son, has a long, long name and that’s what causes the trouble. What happens first is that Chang falls into a well. His brother runs for help, and help comes quickly. But then the older brother, the first born son, falls into the well. And when Chang runs for help, it takes a lot longer. Why? Because every time Chang tries to tell somebody that his brother has fallen into the well, he has to start by saying his brother's name, which is this: Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari ban ruchi-pip peri pembo!

Kids, naturally, love that book. The name is repeated over and over, and soon they learn to chant it along with whoever is reading to them. By the middle of the story, Mal's arms were tired from holding up the giant book and turning the pages, and her neck was stiff from looking at the book sideways, and her throat was scratchy from reading out loud — but Mal

was happy. The kids were crazy about the book, and every time Mal started to say "Tikki tikki tembo," the kids joined in and said it along with her, shouting out the last "pip peri pembo!" so loudly that shoppers from all over the store came to see what was going on in the children's section. Mal was a big hit.

After she finished Tikki Tikki Tembo, Mal swung right into The Cat in the Hat, which was also a crowd-pleaser. And when Mal finished that, they begged for another. "Sorry," said Mal, who had noticed that a lot of parents were already waiting to pick up their kids. "That’s all for today, but come back next week." By the time Mal had tidied up the children's

section, all of the kids had been picked up.

The blonde girl and boy were met by an older

girl, maybe twelve, Mal thought. She looked

as if she might be their sister. After being congratulated by Ms. Munro,

Mal headed for the bus, and we all rode home

together. She filled us in on her story hour.

"That sounds like fun," said Jessi, enviously.

"All I got to do today was sweep up popcorn

and scrape chewing gum off the theatre floor." "I had a good day," said Logan. "The cook

at Casa Grande taught me how to make

enchiladas."

"Cool," said Claudia. "I had fun today, too. I unpacked a new shipment of paints and set them up in a window display."