One of the skills I teach to incoming fifth graders is how to use our online catalog. The lesson is brief, so I start by going over how to access the catalog, how to search and filter/narrow by wild cards or phrase searching, and how to interpret the catalog record. Necessary, but boring!

A former librarian had spiced up the practice part of the lesson by using a story full of blanks to be filled with words from catalog searches based on clues. I liked the idea, but thought the story—‘Mr. Dewey’s Naughty Boy’—wasn’t exactly riveting. So I wrote my own story, tailored to our catalog, though I’ll admit I had to add a couple of no-copy records to the catalog to make it work (#Sorry-Not-Sorry).

When I introduce the story, the class and I do the first blank together, so I can show them the process. I emphasize how to interpret the clue so they know what to look up, and emphasize that they should find the most unusual word in the clue to use as a keyword rather than laboriously type in the entire clue (which they still do, because, of course. #FacePalm). Then I pass out slips with one clue on each, and the students work in teams to solve them. At the end, I read the story aloud, calling on them to fill in the missing words.

Below is the story, and here’s our catalog: see how you do! (And if you just want to see the completed story, click here.)

The Scene: The police received an emergency call from the Overlake Library. When they arrived, they found the library abandoned. Windows and doors were smashed, computers tipped over, and books lay all over the floor. The books had been ripped apart and mangled. What happened?

Clues from Eyewitness Accounts

1. It was a normal day in the library until all the students heard a strange sound, like a:

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Title of a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book by Laban Hill

2. The students in the library heard hundreds of voices shouting for:

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Title of a book by Sherre Phillips

3. When the horde descended on the library, it sounded as if someone had taken too literally:

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The first six words in the title of a book by Rain Newcomb  

4. The police received an emergency phone call from someone who said the library was being attacked by:

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Creatures from a baseball book by Paolo Bacigalupi

5. All of the students thought they’d get famous if they became:

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Title of Emmanuel Guibert’s only nonfiction book (call number 070.4)

6. Each student in the library whipped out a:

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Technology in the title of a Myth-O-Mania  series book about Persephone

7. Ms. McCandlish shouted over the chaos.  “Don’t worry! I have a book called…”

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Title of a book by Max Brooks (look him up as an author)

8. After Ms. McCandlish told the students what to do, each threw a:

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Title of a book by Karen Brookfield

9. One student threw:

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Title of a book by Clive Upton

10. The creature ate the book and started spouting:

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Title of a book written or edited by “Peter Washington” (be sure to use the quotation marks!)

11. One student threw:

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Title of a book by Alessandro Taverna

12. The creature ate the book and became a:

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Last name of the author of Under Shifting Glass

13. One student threw:

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First three words in the title of a book by Terry Lee Stone

14. The creature ate the book and started:

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Title of a book by Amy Gordon

15. Ms. McCandlish shouted, “Keep throwing! They’ve got:

______________________________!”

First two words in the title of a book by Nancy Pearl from 2003 (Call number: 011.73)

16. The students threw as many books as:

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The number of “splendid suns” in a book by Khaled Hosseini

17. While the creatures were distracted, Ms. McCandlish whispered to the raven statue:

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Title of a book by Kelly Creagh

18. Ms. McCandlish led the kids to safety through a:

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Title of a book by Betty Cavanna

19. To explain where the creatures had gone, Ms. McCandlish said: “I think what happened to them is…”

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What happened to Henry in a book by Oliver Jeffers. (Read the book’s summary!)

20. Ms. McCandlish said: “The books were:

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The title of a book by Sonia Levitin