22x01 - No Cats in the Library!

[bunniefuu]

Kids,

[Music]

take a look. It's in a book. A reading

rainbow.

[Music]

Hi, welcome to Reading Rainbow.

If it's your first time with Reading

Rainbow, we're excited to start

exploring the world of books with you.

And if you've joined us before, I'm so

glad we're back together. I'm Michael

the Librarian, and this place

is the library.

[Music]

Sh.

Libraries were the first place where I

felt like I could belong. I entered the

library doors and entered a world where

I didn't feel alone. At the library, I

was surrounded by friends in books and

discovered friends in stories, embraced

by library workers who celebrated my

weirdness and called it a good thing.

Wherever you can find a library,

wherever you can find a book, you can

find a friend. Basically, a library is a

place where everyone and anyone is

welcome. And sometimes that really means

everyone. Follow me.

This is Barnaby Von Whiskers. You might

not have known that sometimes the

library is a welcome place for cats,

too, not just people. This reminds me of

a book that I love called No Cats in the

Library about Clarice, a cat who's so

curious to find out what a library is

all about.

No Cats in the Library

by Lauren Emmens, narrated by me, Jamie

Chung.

Clarice was a stray cat who loved books.

She couldn't understand the dark,

squiggly lines, but she loved looking at

the pictures.

One day, she stumbled upon a magical

building where people walked in

empty-handed and came out with books.

She had to get inside.

But the keeper of books wouldn't let

her.

She tried to sneak in again,

but no luck.

No cats in the library.

Sorry.

Until she noticed the book drop.

[Music]

She was in.

But to her dismay,

all the books were full of those dark,

squiggly lines.

There were no pictures to be found

anywhere.

Why are words so hard?

[Music]

At last, a book with pictures. "Oh, hi,

kitty cat," said the girl. "You want to

read together?"

"Okay, I'll try again."

Clarice had never been read to before.

It was amazing.

As the girl read aloud, the dark

squiggly lines became words.

And the words and the pictures together

became stories.

Oh, thank you, little kitty. You helped

so much. Ready to go, baby? Mommy, I did

it. I read to the kitty cat.

Can we come back tomorrow?

A read aloud cat. Such a good idea.

Clarice couldn't wait to find more

children to read aloud to her,

but the keeper of the books had found

her.

Read aloud cats are welcome in the

library.

From then on, Clarice's new life in the

library was wonderful.

She got pets everyday and met so many

lovely people.

She even became good friends with the

keeper of the books.

And best of all,

every day was filled with stories.

[Music]

And that's No Cats in the Library. What

did you think? I liked it. But Barnaby,

he loved it. Let's see what you learned.

And now it's time for a game of what can

you remember? You got this. How did

Clarice get into the library? A. Walked

in the front door. B. Threw the book

drop. C. She wore human clothes.

What could it be?

[Music]

It's B. Clarice tumbled in through the

book drop. Here's our second question.

What part of books did Clarice have

trouble understanding? A. The squiggly

lines. B. the pictures. See? Holding the

pages open with her little paws.

[Music]

Think hard.

It's a Clarice couldn't figure out those

little squiggly lines, so she couldn't

read the words. Last question. What did

the little girl do to make Clarice feel

happy and welcomed? A. gave her a little

treat. B pretended to be a cat. C read

to Clarice.

[Music]

Time's almost up.

It's C. Clarice loved being read to. And

the little girl loved having someone to

read to, too. Nice.

Why do you think the little girl likes

reading to Clarice? Do you have someone

in your life that you like to read with?

Maybe you can ask them to read something

with you today. Or maybe you're looking

for someone you like to read, too. We'll

see a fun and furry way to do just that.

In the book No Cats in the Library, we

learned about a cat who loved being read

to at the library. It turns out reading

out loud is relaxing for the cat and

great practice for you, the reader. But

it's not just Clarice the cat who likes

being read to. There is probably a place

where you can read animals near where

you live. Sometimes it's a library,

sometimes a park, and sometimes it's at

an animal shelter. My friend Evan is

going to show us more. Check it out.

Thank you, Michael. Hi, everybody. I'm

at the Animal Care Center of NYC in

Rididgewood, Queens. I'm here today to

take a little tour, get to know some

animals, and hopefully hopefully read a

book to some cats. I brought a big bag

of Bonito Flakes to share with my cat

friends cuz you never want to show up

empty-handed to a party, guys. Shall we

go inside?

Hi guys.

Hi. Welcome. So, my name is Catherine

and I'm joined here today with three of

my friends. Would you like to introduce

yourself?

Yeah. My name is Meera. And I'm Zoe.

All right. Nice to meet you. I'm Ebban.

I have a cat. He's called Sunny. He

loves bonito flakes. So, I brought some.

Maybe some of the cats here might like

them. You think? Maybe.

All right. So, I would love to show you

around and we'll spend some time reading

to our cats today. So, you can follow me

upstairs and we'll start our tour.

[Music]

Do you guys have any pets?

Our class pet, Turtle, Truffle.

Mhm.

All right. So, first we can go visit our

cats. So, if you'll follow me, I'll

bring you to our cat room and I'll teach

you all how to tell a cat that you love

them.

This is exciting. I'm excited.

[Music]

So this is one of our rooms where we

have cats in our shelter. And again at

our shelter we adopt out dogs, cats,

guinea pigs, and rabbits. Yeah. A lot of

times when people come into our shelter,

they see the animals, they see the cats,

they might wave to the cats or say hello

to the cat. But have you ever had a cat

speak back to you in English?

No.

Can you tell us how cats communicate?

Yeah. So cats use body language. And

often when a cat is in a good mood,

their ears are up and facing forward.

When a cat is feeling nervous or scared,

their ears start to move back to the

sides, kind of like airplane wings.

When a cat is very angry, they put their

ears flat on their heads. But when cats

want to tell each other that they trust

each other, that they love each other,

that they're friends, they will slowly

blink their eyes at each other. And to

them again, that means I trust you. I

love you. So if you see a cat staring at

you, slowly blink your eyes at them and

see if they blink back because if they

blink back, they're telling you that

they love you, too.

And to our cats in the shelter, it's

really comforting for them. Um, when you

blink at them, it helps them to feel

safe.

We do have some cute kittens down there.

Oh my goodness, those are cute.

Oh my god,

look at this. Look at this.

They're snuggling. Look, this litter is

named after mushrooms. You have morel,

porttoello, truffle, like your class

turtle.

So, now that we've visited our cats, I

will bring us over to visit our rabbits.

And this room, I think, probably smells

the best out of all the rooms in our

shelter. About 90% of what rabbits eat

is Timothy hay. And that's what we see

inside their kennels is all that Timothy

hay.

Why does their nose go like this? So

that's how they're gaining information

about the world around them. So some

animals like people, we tend to use our

words, but rabbits and dogs and cats,

they do experience their world a lot

through their noses and their other

senses, too. All right, so next we're

going to head downstairs and we're going

to visit our dogs. Now friends, I do

want to warn you that our dogs get

excited and they bark.

And they bark.

They might be jumping. They might be

barking. It might get loud in there. It

might get stinky in there. With cats, I

said it's okay to make eye contact and

blink our eyes at them. With dogs,

should you stare at a dog?

No, you they're going to think it's

threatening.

They think it's threatening. So, at with

our dogs, we can look at them, but we

don't want to stare directly at them. If

you feel uncomfortable, you can always

step outside. This is sort of like the

dog superighway right here.

Can definitely hear them already.

Yep.

So, the first room that we have here are

where our smaller dogs are. Not

necessarily puppies, just small dogs.

And then our long room here is where the

big dogs are.

I told you it got loud in here, right?

No, they're great.

So, we took an amazing tour of the

facility here, but now I think maybe

it's time to meet a dog.

Right.

Hello. Hi.

This is Miss Missy. If you want to step

back, you can hit the latch and come

right in.

Okay.

This is

super sweetheart, Missy. She's been

waiting for her forever home for 445

days.

445 days she's been here.

Correct. She is our longest stay

currently.

She prefers to be the only pet, but she

is super sweet. Absolutely. Missy.

Hi, Missy. Hi.

Hi girl. Oh, you are so serious.

We take in, you know, 15,000 animals

every single year. And the goal is to

get homes for every single one of them.

We actually refer to our dogs as and all

of our pets as burrow breads because New

York City is a melting pot. Um, so our

dogs are just part of the melting pot.

I like that. Burrow breads. Thank you so

much.

Of course. Thank you so much.

Are you Evan?

Yes.

Hi,

nice to see you guys.

Yeah. So, can you uh tell us what you do

here?

I'm with the books and burrow beds

program.

I've started in 2019. So, I've been

doing this for a while. What we do here

is we take a look at books and we read

it to the animals to help socialize

them. So, when people are interested in

adopting them, the animals are like a

little more ready

because some of the animals when they

come here, they're sort of not so social

and sort of shy,

right? So, I actually have an online

Instagram account. I record my time with

the animals to show the awareness and

attention that they deserve.

When you read a book to the animals, do

you read to all of them?

Well, I honestly specialize in larger

dogs because I felt like when I started,

not a lot of people paid as much

attention to them.

Is there a certain animal that you think

shows the most effect after reading to

them?

Good question.

That's a really good question. Honestly,

they all show the same kind of behavior

at different times.

Should we give it a shot?

Okay.

Yeah.

Can I just say

and we're just going to remember quiet

vixes, slow movements.

Hi, guys.

Hi, Justin. Hi, June.

[Music]

Clarice couldn't wait to find more

children to read aloud to her. Yeah.

So, I think they're really into it.

What kind of reminds me of what we're

doing now because the little girl read

to the cat and we're reading to the cats

now.

Exactly. All right. Well, these guys

Let's let these guys have a little nap.

Bye, guys.

Bye.

Read to other cats.

Yeah. Let's go.

Let's go read to other cats. I hope you

enjoy.

All right, so today all of you got to do

some reading to the animals. And that's

one way that you can volunteer to help

the animals at our shelter. But even if

you're not able to come to the shelter,

there's still things that you can do to

support our animals from home. So we

make cat toys out of some pretty basic

supplies. We have pipe cleaners and

feathers. If you want to take two pipe

cleaners and twist them together or

three and break them together stiff.

That's why I keep them stiff

to make it more strong. You don't want

to poke yourself. And we don't want a

cat to poke themsself either. Right.

So we cover it up.

So exactly right, my friend. And now

it's a very simple thing for us to make.

That took me 10 seconds. But for a cat,

now they get to pretend like this is a

bug or a bird. And the really nice thing

about the cat toys, too, is because in a

shelter, animals don't always know

what's going on. They don't always know

why they're here. We can't explain to

them what's happening. So, sometimes

they come to the shelter and they're

frightened or they're stressed out

cuz they don't know what's happening.

They don't know what's happening. So,

it's not just our job at a shelter to

make sure that they all have food and

water and shelter.

We care about them.

It's our job to make them feel loved,

happy, healthy, and loved.

Exactly. Just like how when you were

reading today, by reading to the

animals, you help get them used to being

near new voices, new faces, and that

helps our animals to build their

confidence.

That was amazing, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Ton of fun. I hope you all had a good

time today at the shelter.

That's the best Saturday morning I've

had in a long time. I can't wait to come

back and read some more books. Thank you

so much for having me. I'm going to

leave you.

Thank you so much,

Bonito.

Our cats will be very grateful.

I'm so grateful. Thanks for having me.

Have a good day, guys.

Bye-bye.

Byebye. Bye.

Bye.

That was so much fun. I hope you guys

enjoyed that as much as I did. Uh, I'll

definitely be back to read some more

cats sometime. I hope you guys get a

chance to read to some cats at an

adoption center near you. Back to you,

Michael.

Thanks, Evan. That looks so fun. I'm

trying to find a way to read to animals,

too. There's a read to animals event at

the library in a few weeks. Wow. To all

the phto and felines out there, get

ready to be read, too. But what if there

aren't events like these near you? No

cat, no problem. There are other ways to

share reading. You can read to adults at

a senior center or read to a younger

family member like a cousin. Did you

know that even reading to plants may

actually help them grow? So, next time

you're at a library, check out a book to

read to someone else or something else.

And if you can't make it to a library,

we've got a way you can make your own

library.

In the book, No Cats in the Library, we

learned all about one cat's love of

libraries. I can relate. Libraries are a

place where whole worlds are shared

through a book. There's something

special about the moment you recommend a

book to someone. It's a way to share a

small part of your life. It's a way to

say, "I really like this." And from what

I know about you, you're really going to

love this one, too. That's a special

experience because it says something

about you. And it says you might know

something about them. And that's just

one reason why libraries are such

magical places. Now, public libraries

like the one I'm in are just one kind of

library. You can actually build your own

little library. Then no matter where you

are, you can recommend a book to anyone

in your neighborhood. Let's go. How's

everybody doing today?

Good.

Good. That's excellent. My name is

Michael. What's everybody's names?

Nia.

Nice to meet you.

Vivian.

Vivian.

Liam.

Liam.

Davis.

Avis. It's so nice to meet you all. Do

you guys have any idea what we're going

to be doing today?

No.

No. We are making sidewalk libraries.

Do you want to pick out your boxes to

make our little sidewalk library?

Awesome. Let's pick them. Find something

to hold your books like a cardboard box,

shoe box, or milk crate. Are we ready to

get started?

Yeah.

Awesome. So, we're going to start. We're

just going to start decorating them. We

have some rulers in front of us. We have

some scissors, some markers, some

crayons. Let's start decorating. Anybody

can make a little sidewalk library. Even

me. I am not a crafty person. You're

about to find out. This is going to be a

fun challenge.

I got this.

Are you using specific colors or just

picking them at random?

Picking random.

There you go. It's okay.

You picking random?

Yes, I am actually.

Did you all know there are more than

just books at the library at some

libraries?

Coupons. There are al there are also

book There are also bookmarks challenges

you have to do to there's a lot of cool

stuff.

Yes. Lots of libraries have summer

reading challenges so you can challenge

yourself. You're all you're all signed

up.

Museums.

Yes. Museum passes, parks passes,

manga, graphic novels, movies, TV shows.

They have all kinds of stuff.

They do. And you get to just be exactly

who you are at the library in a place

that's safe, in a place where you

belong. Do you guys have any idea how

many libraries are in the entire world?

No, but I probably think it's 1,375,

but I probably think it's infinity now

cuz more and more libraries are being

built.

Currently, last time I checked, there

are 2.8 8 million libraries in the

entire world. Can you believe that?

Whoa.

I know. And we are each making a little

sidewalk library. So, there's at least

four more added to that number. It's a

lot of books.

I'm not sure if these sidewalk libraries

count because, well, they're not big

like other libraries.

They're not big. Well, you know what? A

library doesn't have to be big to be a

library. A library just has to be a

place where people come together. Access

is something that a lot of people don't

have when it comes to libraries. So,

we're saying, you know what, you may not

be able to get to the public library,

but they can find these sidewalk

libraries that we're making right now,

and they can get you a book. And that's

what a library is. It's a place where

you can get your books. All right. Now,

it's time to talk to an expert. And

today, since we're talking about

libraries, I'm the expert. I'm a

librarian. Do you have any questions

about libraries?

Uh-huh. When did libraries first begin?

You know what? That is actually a

surprisingly complicated question. But

libraries for the most part started in

the 1800s. So many years ago,

a long time ago. So how many books are

in like a library?

That you know what, that is a good

question. I don't know the exact answer

to that. Um I often tell people when

they ask me that exact question. Most

libraries, even the littlest public

library, probably has at least 10,000

different books in the actual system.

Um, but there are some libraries who are

even bigger like the Library of Congress

where they have hundreds of thousands of

books.

I have a question. Why do always

libraries need to be quiet?

Ooh, I love this question so very much.

I think it's probably my most favorite

question that people ask. Are we being

very quiet right now making our little

sidewalk libraries?

No.

No. You know what? And that's perfectly

okay because we're having fun and

libraries are places of joy. And

sometimes when we're having joy, we make

a little bit of noise. That's okay.

Every library day is different. So

libraries used to be quiet all the time.

But now we're okay with a little bit of

noise.

Yay. Do

you have any idea who's going to be the

first person to borrow a book from your

library?

Yeah.

Who do you think it's going to be?

You.

Me? I would love to be the first person

to borrow a book from your library.

This is my library. My name is Liam's

Lockinada

Library.

Beautiful. Great job. Has anybody else

named their library quite yet?

I made I named mine Nia's Out of This

World Library.

Oh man.

Mine is kind of just basic. It's just

called Vivian's Library.

Hey, that's beautiful. That's all it is.

People are going to remember it. Davis.

Since mine is just a box, I I called

mine a Davis Library Box.

Hey, you know what? We're going to

remember it. It's not just a box. Now

it's your very own library for all your

books for your whole neighborhood. Are

we ready for the most important part of

our little sidewalk library?

Yes.

Awesome. We're gonna pick out the books

for our library. Are you ready?

Yes.

So, I have some books for us all. I'll

let you all pick the books first cuz

it's only fair. All right. We'll let you

guys pick them out one at a time. There

you go. There's yours. The elephant. But

you are enough. Dog. Too big for yours.

Okay, let's go maybe with this one.

Perfect fit.

I'll try that one.

You want to get try this one, too?

Place your library in a safe spot where

people can find it and ask an adult if

it's okay.

I'm think I'm either going to put mine

close to my neighborhood.

You're going to put it there. You're

going to make sure that the books are

available to swap out. Very cool. I love

it. Wonderful job you all. You made some

beautiful little sidewalk libraries.

Thank you for being with us today. Wow.

We built new libraries for you to check

out. And remember, if you're building

one of your own, make sure you do it

with responsible grown-up. And if you

can't build your own library, you can

still do a book swap with friends.

Gather books you're willing to give away

and either share with friends or set up

a table in your neighborhood like a

lemonade stand where anyone can come by

and pick up a book. A library can be

almost anything. And that's pretty

special, too. For more info about little

libraries, your grown-up can find out

more online. A big part of building our

own library was identifying which books

we wanted to share with others and why.

Take the book we read, No Cats in the

Library. One of my favorite things about

that book was seeing that cat sneak

around the library trying not to get

caught. It's so fun when books take an

animal we know and drop them into a

place we know they're not supposed to

be. So, our friends at West Orange

Public Library picked a few more books

for you that do just that. You got to

hear it from them.

[Music]

I recommend the book number five,

Bubblegum Street.

There is a lot going on inside the

building of Bubblegum Street. All the

animals live in an apartment building.

There are a lot of animals in the

apartment. One is a famous rapper named

mouse and monkeys who bait.

My favorite character is the hippo. He's

a funny snorer.

Every evening they gather on the roof

and have a party.

The book shows how people can live in

one place and get along. My favorite

part of the book is when the owl pecked

the hippo on his head because his face

was really surprised.

I'd give this book 17 stars because it

was so funny. I think you should read

number five, Bubblegum Street.

I recommend the book Rescuing Rumba.

This book is about a homeless dog from

the Dominican Republic. A little girl

named Megan finds a dog

and she falls in love.

The dad came and then gave the dog some

bacon and he's like, "I'm friends with

you now." And then that's when they

named her Rumba. She really wants to

take the dog home with her.

So they called animal rescues, all of

them. But all the spaces were out. So

they decided to take the dog home with

them. But you have to read to find out

how.

I like the book because like she's

licking her face at the end and it's

really cute.

I give this book five stars. be because

first I c I come from Dominican Republic

and it's a good story. So I gave it five

stars.

Take it from me, Arya. It's excellent.

[Music]

I think you should read Jonty Gen 2.

I think the book is about someone trying

to find their home and finding friends

along the way. Johny wanted to break out

of the zoo because he wanted to get to

the South Pole and the book told us all

about his trip. He swims to uh the North

Pole on accident and he's like, "Where

are the penguins?" He realizes it

because a polar bear told him that he

accidentally went north. Penguins

actually live in the South Pole. Now he

sees a bird and the bird helps him get

to the South Pole.

The bird called a turn helped Johny when

he needed it. I would give it 2,000

stores. Take it from me, Dory. You don't

want to miss this book.

Thanks so much for hanging out with me

at the library today. We got to read No

Cats in the library. We saw our friends

read to a cat in an animal shelter. We

built three little libraries and got so

many great book recommendations from

kids like you. We've got plenty more

books still to come and plenty more

episodes to share. So, make sure up the

rainbow. See you next time. I love

books.

[Music]

Don't forget to check out some of the

other fun videos on Kinsico.

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