♪ Hey, wow... ♪

♪ Here's how ♪

♪ Come and read ♪

♪ Between the lions ♪

CHORUS: ♪ Come on ♪

♪ Come in ♪

♪ Begin ♪

♪ The world awaits ♪

WOMAN: ♪ Between the lions ♪

♪ Between the covers of a book ♪

♪ It's time to look between the lions ♪

♪ Behold the tales beyond the tails ♪

CHORUS: ♪ Behind the door ♪

♪ Become, explore ♪

♪ Come in between the lions ♪

♪ Begin between the lions ♪

♪ Be here between the lions! ♪

( Click groaning )

May I request a switch to a clockwise rotation?

I am getting dizzy!

Hmm? Hmm?

Oh, sorry, Click.

I was just concentrating.

You know, half of writing is thinking

hearing the characters talking in your head

like, I'm hearing Leona say...

What's shaking, Lionel, baby?

Is that what you had in mind?

What are you writing, Lionel?

I'm working on my story.

It's coming along so great.

It's in the crime genre.

What's the, um...

crime, uh... blah-blah?

"Genre," a distinctive style

of literary composition

from the French genre, meaning "kind."

And my story is in the crime genre.

You know, like the Sam Spud detective mysteries.

Oh!

Oh, I like the cute animal genre.

Can you write in the cute animal genre, Lionel?

Oh, come on, Leona, I'm trying to concentrate.

Take a powder, dollface.

"Take a powder, dollface"?

That's the way they talk in the crime genre.

Well, see you later, alligator!

Hmm?

That's how they talk

in cute animal genre.

Okay, where were we?

Hmm...

LIONEL ( composing ):

We were stacking returned books, stamping them--

you know, library stuff.

CHICKEN:

Huh?

Okay...

ALL: Oh.

What the heck was that?!

We'd better go check.

I'm the responsible one.

( chicken screams )

Hey, wait for me!

Sometimes.

I knew Leona would be fine-- she's young, but she's no fool.

Unfortunately, somebody was about to play her for one.

Hiya, cupcake.

Am I right in assuming

that this is where one would take out a book

if one was to want to read one?

Yes, it is, sir.

Um, may I please have your library card?

Ooh, yeah, let's see...

My card, my library card, of course.

What did I do with it?

Oh, I remember, yeah!

( chortles )

I forgot it.

Well, sir, that... that is a problem, you see

because, well, I'm not allowed to give you a book

without a library card.

Oh, come on! Please?

Oh, pretty please?

I'll bring it back tomorrow, I promise-- please?

Come on, you got lots of books...

Hey, Lionel?

( yells )

What?!

Why didn't Leona simply issue him

a temporary library card to use until he brings in his card?

We do that, you know.

Hmm...

Hmm...

( gasps )

Better.

Thanks.

But Leona still wasn't changing her mind.

I'm very sorry, sir, but, well, how do I know

that you'll bring it back for sure?

Just then... the monkey spotted a spider.

Hey, look, you see that spider on that book?

Yeah, he can be our witness--

someone who saw what happened.

He heard the whole conversation.

I promise-- in front of that spider--

that I will return that book tomorrow.

Well, um...

Okay.

Okay, I mean

now that we have a witness

I feel much better about it.

Oh, great.

Yeah, I think I can do it.

There you go.

Thanks a lot.

Enjoy the book.

Oh, I will.

( laughs sinisterly )

Poor kid, he took her straight down Chump Street

in a leaky canoe.

Lionel, where's Chump Street?

( sighs )

It's an expression, Click.

A chump is somebody who gets tricked.

And she's in a canoe that leaks?

No, no, no, she's at the front desk--

you know, it's just a funny way

of saying she's headed for trouble.

It's, um... writerish.

Hmm, interesting.

Thanks.

On a street... in a canoe...

Hey, who's writing this, you or me?

You are.

Thank you.

But a canoe?

Click...!

( growls )

You have to help me.

There's something itching inside my head.

Okay, no problem, Buster.

Open up so we can see, um...

Inside?

Yeah!

Okay.

We can't see anything, Buster.

Open, uh...

Wider?

Yeah!

Yeah.

Okay, how's this?

It's a... it's a...

Spider?

Yeah!

( both scream )

( laughs )

The old rubber-spider- inside-your-head trick.

Works every time!

( laughs )

How's it going, Spidey?

This your first time on TV?

Oh, and now, the out-of-sight Martha Reader

and those mighty Vowelles sing the long "i"-- "eye"-- sound

in the word "kite"!

( singing long "i" sound to popular music )

( repeating long "i" sound )

MONKEYS: "Kite"!

( monkeys hooting )

( sounding out word ): "S..." "sm..." "smi..."

"Sm... ile."

"Smile..."

"Smile."

"Smile."

"Smile."

Smile.

( music begins playing )

CHILD: ♪ I got a reason... ♪

♪ I got a reason... ♪

♪ Got a good reason to write. ♪

♪ When it's my brother's birthday ♪

♪ I write his name on the cake ♪

♪ When we go on a car trip ♪

♪ We write the roads that we take ♪

♪ When my poor dog was missing, we wrote a flyer to post ♪

♪ When it was Halloween, we wrote "Beware of the ghost." ♪

♪ I got a reason... ♪

♪ I got a reason... ♪

♪ Got a good reason to write. ♪

♪ I got a reason... ♪

♪ I got a reason... ♪

♪ Got a good reason to write. ♪

♪ When Mom heads to go shopping, I help her write up the list ♪

♪ When I sent friends a postcard ♪

♪ I wrote "XX" for a kiss ♪

♪ And I wrote down your number so I can call on the phone ♪

♪ And I wrote lots of reasons to write for fun all alone. ♪

♪ I got a reason... ♪

♪ I got a reason... ♪

♪ Got a good reason to write. ♪

♪ I got a reason... ♪

♪ I got a reason... ♪

♪ Got a good reason to write. ♪

( song ends )

Ooh, what happens?

What happens?!

The monkey.

Look, Lionel, it's him, it's him--

the monkey who took the book.

The monkey who took the book?

Yes.

LEONA: Excuse me.

Excuse me, Mr. Monkey, I hope you remembered

to bring back that book like you promised.

Book? Uh, what book?

The one that you borrowed...

without a card, remember?

I don't recall borrowing no book, uh-uh.

But... but you did.

Don't... don't you remember me?

And you promised to bring it back.

And the spider-- remember, that spider was our witness.

Look, I never borrowed no book.

I never saw no spider!

And I've never seen you before in my life!

Okay?

( all gasp )

( pounding gavel )

Okay, sweetheart--

so, tell me one more time, because I'm confused:

This monkey wanted to take out a book with no library card?

Mm-hmm, yes, and he said he'd return it the very next day

but then he didn't.

He said he never borrowed the book.

Hey! She's a big, fat liar!

Hey, monkey, please refrain from commenting

on the character of the plaintiff.

Well, she is.

Hey...

Sorry.

ALL THREE: We believe you, Leona.

MONKEY: Of course they do--

they're her parents.

Hey, my parents believe me, too.

Right, Mom, Dad, huh?

What? Oh, yeah.

Oh, yes, what a good boy!

Yeah, you see?

And my lawyer believes me.

Excuse me, monkey, sir

but your lawyer lies like a rug.

RUG: Is that bad?

( both laughing )

You may step down, cutie pie.

Thank you.

Ho, that's a good one!

CLICK: So, let me get this straight--

his lawyer is a rug?

Yeah, funny, right?

Get it?

Because he "lies" like a rug.

( chuckles )

Oh, a pun!

Uh, yeah.

Let's get back to the story.

And then the judge turned to the monkey...

( pounds gavel )

Uh... my side?

( cheering )

Excellent!

Gawain here once again at Blending Fields

where two brave knights in armor

will charge together at high speed and make a word!

Competing today we have Sir Ch...

( cheering )

And Sir Ime.

( cheering )

Blend on, dudes!

( cheering )

( chimes ringing )

"Chime"! Excellent!

That's Gawain's word for today!

And this is Gawain saying it would be a crime not to...

see you next time on...

( phone rings )

( cries out )

( phone rings )

Oh, oh!

( phone rings )

Barnaby B. Busterfield III Memorial Public Library.

Information Hen speaking.

( voice speaking gibberish over phone )

Ooh! Deep question.

I'll have to look that up.

Oh, oh, wait a minute, wait, wait.

There it is, there it is.

"When your clock strikes 25, it's time to get a new clock."

( laughing and clucking )