not just another day in the library

Before she had learned to read, Mary had not spent much time dusting the books. What for?

These days, she often spent an entire afternoon in Victoria's library. She would open a book at random and read a paragraph, often aloud. She couldn't get enough of hearing herself read, even when she stumbled over words and had to get the dictionary, which happened a lot.

She dusted the top of Sharyn McCrumb's "Songcatcher" and put it back on the shelf with a smile. She even knew how to store the books now. Tori's home library followed the standard libary cataloging system, Mary had learned.

But, oh, McCrumb, what a storyteller. When she started reading "Songcatcher" aloud to Victoria one afternoon while Jake was off hunting, Victoria had told her about McCrumb's ballad series, of which this book was a part. "I want to read all of them," Mary said. "I don't want to miss a word."