THE LIBRARY CARD

by Jerry Spinelli (4th+)

What is so great about a library? Well, we are about to find out. Come along on a journey with Mongoose, Brenda, Sonseray, and April Mendez, four pre-teens who discover changes in their lives after a mysterious blue library card shows up among their possessions. It begins with Mongoose who finds his library card in his pocket among the stuff he has just stolen from a store. He makes the decision to check out the library and finds his life changing for the better. Brenda is a TV addict, she just can’t get enough of it. But when the school has a Great TV Turn-Off week she thinks she may go crazy. That is until she finds the mysterious blue library card. Curious about the library she visits and also finds her life has changed and she has missed so much of it already. Sonseray lives out of a car with his uncle and he is always so angry with anything and anyone no matter what is done. He finds his library card and one day discovers himself in the library looking for air conditioning. He leaves with much more than he bargained for however, and his life is set on a track for the better. Lastly, April Mendez loved to read and spent every waking hour possible in the New York City library, that is until her family moved to a mushroom farm. Now what is she going to do. She has no friends and she has no library anymore to keep her happy. She has this useless library card that she soon finds will help her in many ways and make her life seem complete. To find out more about how this special library card helped these pre-teens in their sometimes scary and uneventful lives, read The Library Card by Jerry Spinelli and take an adventure of your own through reading.