Alpacas Make Terrible Librarians

K-Gr 3–A group of children go to the library for story time only to find a wild-looking purple alpaca has taken the place of the regular librarian. And this isn’t just any alpaca, but one with an attitude, who hides all of the animal books (except ones about alpacas, of course), explains what shearing is by giving a child a radical new haircut, and demonstrates how to use the “community dung pile” when one of the children asks where the bathroom is. When the ­children return to their classroom, they know they will have a great story to tell—only to find that their teacher is a owl. There is no deeper message here; this is a silly story about a wacky alpaca in a fun way to present facts about the actual animal. The potty humor might be a bit much, but it’s sure to make kids laugh, when they aren’t saying “­Ewwww!” ­Cheerfully colored ­illustrations add a lighthearted touch to the story, and the facial expressions on both the children and the alpaca are sure to evoke extra ­giggles. ­