stack.
Soonâ¦
Big Pete was reading not small words, but BIG â
swashbucklinâ
⦠buccaneer
⦠thingamajig.
But Pete got impatient. Heâd worked day and night and still not a trinket or treasure in sight!
One day he barked at Lou,
âDo what ye told! Ye said yeâd be helpinâ me find that sweet gold!â
âCorrect!â answered Lou. âIn a book, thereâs a clue. Iâve given my help. Itâs now⦠up to you.â
Pete stared at those books lined up shelfâ¦after shelf! A code? A clue?
ARRGH ! âMe find âem me-self!â
Maybe, just maybe, the code be in rhyme. He loved Mother Goose. Dr. Seussâhow sublime! They tickled his fancy, butâno secret code.
Avast! Easy readers! He snatched Frog and Toad .
Day after day after day, he went back. And night after night, he piled high a new stack. He found books called classics, great tales of the sea. âBlimey!â cried Big Pete. âTharâs whar the clue be!
Treasure Island â¦Me like it!â Butâno clue to be found.
Stumped, Big Pete scoured each shelf, up and down.
Gangway! The non -fiction! Tharâs whar she be! Soon, luscious loot! Fancy-free on the sea!
Those factual books, Big Pete came to love. He read about things that heâd never heard ofâstink bugs⦠and baseball⦠and surfingâ¦and Mars⦠dinosaurs, mummies, electric guitars!
Peteâs picks and his ax and his shovel gotâ¦dusty. At piratey ways, Big Pete got a mightâ¦rusty.
NowâPete wasnât a pirate just dreaming of loot, but a reader he was, and a good one to boot! When one book was finished, yes, when one was done, Pete picked up another. Oh, reading wasâ fun !
He read and he read and he read and he read! Then suddenly one night, Pete popped up in bed.
The next dayâ¦
at Seabreezy Library, things were just right. Book lovers were cozy. The sky was blue-bright when Big Pete and Igor tiptoed through the door ( shhh⦠) and spied Library Lou in aisle four hundred four.
They both gave her hugs. Each, a kiss too. âWeâve come to thank ye, Miss Library Lou! âCause of ye, now we knowâ books be the treasure!â âShucks,â whispered Lou.
âItâs been my pleasure.â
NowâLibrary Lou, with a smile, big and proud, is hanging a sign that saysâ
PIRATES ⦠ALLOWED .