♪ 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! ♪

WOMAN: Whoosh! went the first bone

and whoosh! went the second one

and wham! went the third.

CLICK: As your designated reader for today

I have selected the...

HEATH: Not big, extremely diminutive

itty-bitty, teeny-tiny, very little girl

named Thumbelina.

Hiya, Heath!

Hi, Lionel!

I want you to meet my new best buddy, Gus.

( whistling )

( Gus chuckling )

Hey.

Gus, Heath the Thesaurus.

Heath, Gus.

Hey, hi, hello, greetings!

How's it going?

What's up?

You are.

HEATH: Me?

Me! Up!

( laughs )

Funny.

Gus is the captain

of the jumping team at school.

He's like the, um, Tiger Words of jumping.

Oh, you don't say.

Hey, come on.

I want you to meet everybody.

Okay.

( grunting )

( all gasping )

Hey, Gus!

Wait for me!

( grunts )

THEO: That's my funny bone.

CLEO: That is, yes.

( panting )

Mom, Dad...

meet my new buddy, Gus.

( chuckles )

Hey, Gus, pleased to meet you.

Yes, Gus, welcome to the library.

Thanks.

You said you were going to take me

to see where you and your family live.

Yeah.

( softly ): This is a library.

Well, I live here.

Mm-hmm.

You live in a library?!

Yeah, it's pretty cool, huh?

Books for miles, anytime I want to read.

Don't you just love reading?

Me? Reading?

Oh, yeah, love it.

Love books, read them all the time.

As a matter of fact, I am a speed reader.

Mm-hmm, watch this.

Wow!

Not a bad story.

( laughing )

Hey, that's very funny, Gus.

Hey, kid's got a sense of humor, huh?

CLEO: Yes, he's quite a funny bunny.

Quite a funny bunny!

Yeah, he's a riot.

( laughing )

Hey, Lionel.

Didn't you say you had a little sister?

Yeah-- Leona.

Oh-- well, let's go.

Later, Mr. and Mrs. Lion.

BOTH: Bye, Gus.

Good to meet you, son.

Whoa, man!

Hey, hey, hey, wait up!

Oh...

WOMAN: Hi, Leona.

Hi.

( Lionel panting )

Lionel!

Hey.

Gus, this is my sister.

Leona.

How did you know my name?

Lionel told me all about you

but, um... I wanted to meet you anyway.

( laughing )

It's a joke-- a joke.

Oh... ( laughing )

Oh, Lionel, Lionel!

It's Designated Reader Day today

and you're my designated reader.

Oh, yeah!

Great!

Hey, Gus-- how would you like to be

Leona's designated reader?

Oh, yeah!

M-m-m-me?

Yeah.

( stammering )

I couldn't.

I mean, I could...

I could, but I can't

because... I don't know what a designated reader is

so... so I can't.

A designated reader

is someone who gets to read to someone

who doesn't know how to read yet.

There, now you know.

So you can read to me.

Yeah, go on, go ahead.

Oh, no, no, no, it's okay.

I... i-i-it must be very special

to be a designated reader.

So, uh... I wouldn't want

to take that away from you, man.

Okay, okay.

You're positive?

No, I'm Gus.

( laughing )

( laughing )

Well, uh, maybe some other time, right, Gus?

( clears throat )

( Lionel reading )

Oh, I love this one!

Lionel:

( camel snorts )

LIONEL: Presently, the horse came to him with a saddle on his back

and said...

"Humph!" said the camel, and the horse went away.

Presently the dog came to him with a stick in his mouth

and said...

"Humph!" said the camel, and the dog went away.

Presently the ox came to him with a yoke on his neck

and said...

"Humph!" said the camel.

And the ox went away.

Now, all this made the three very angry

with the world so new-and-all.

Presently, there came along

the djinn in charge of all deserts.

What's a djinn?

Hey, you're not supposed to interrupt, kid.

Sure, you are

if you have a question.

A djinn is like a wizard who's in charge of the desert.

Right... right.

I knew that.

"So, the horse said ( whinnies )..."

LIONEL: The djinn found the camel looking at his own reflection

in a pool of water.

And the camel said "humph!" again

but no sooner had he said it

than he saw his back puffing up and puffing up

into a great, big, lolloping humph!

LIONEL: And the camel humphed himself, humph and all

and went away to join the Three

and from that day to this, the camel always wears a humph.

We call it "hump" now, not to hurt his feelings.

But he has never yet caught up

with the three days that he missed

at the beginning of the world

and he has never yet learned how to behave.

Wow.

Deep.

Very deep.

Yeah, great story, Lionel.

You really know how to read.

Aw, thanks a lot, Gus, but you know

I bet you would have read it a lot better.

Me? Nah!

Different, maybe, but not better.

Different?

LEONA: What do you mean, different?

I mean, I mean, different how?

Read it to me again.

Show me, show me!

Uh, show you? No, no, no.

You don't want to hear the same story again.

Well, it won't be the same

because you said it would be different.

Uh, yeah, yeah.

Well, you know, I-I promised your big brother

that I would show him how to jump-- yeah.

Jumping can wait.

No...

Yeah, yeah, jumping can wait.

Aw, come on, please, Gussy.

Please, please, please.

Look, I said no!

No, I am not going to read to you!

Don't you know what "no" means?

Come on, Lionel.

Mm-hmm, I know.

( grunting )

( sadly ): Okay.

Sorry about that, Leona.

Hey, I, uh...

I wonder what made Gussy all "humphy."

( sniffles )

I didn't mean to.

Flying off the shelf once again

it's the continuing

daring and dangling Adventures of Cliff Hanger!

Today's adventure, number 73--

"Cliff Hanger and the Big Flying Rug."

CHORUS ( singing ):

We find Cliff Hanger where we left him last

hanging from a cliff.

( branch breaking )

Suddenly, Cliff sees a big flying rug.

Unruffled, Cliff reaches into his backpack

and takes out...

his trusty survival manual.

Using his expert decoding skills

Cliff begins to read.

( Cliff reading )

What luck!

Is plucky Cliff Hanger finally off that cliff?

Ugh!

( sighs )

♪ And that's why he's called Cliff Hanger. ♪

TROOPS ( chanting ): ♪ A, E, I, O, U ♪

♪ Sometimes Y's a vowel, too ♪

♪ Sound off-- A, E ♪

♪ Sound off-- I, O, U ♪

♪ Sound off-- A! E! I! O! U! ♪

♪ Y, too! ♪

( bugle blowing reveille )

SARGE: Move it! Move it! Move it!

Wake up!

Wake up! Wake up!

This isn't Camp Gummy-wummy-cutie-pie!

This is Vowel Boot Camp!

Vowel squad, sound off!

A!

E!

I!

O!

U!

Y!

Your head's on upside down, private!

Sorry, sir?

I'm not talking to you!

U!

( U gasps )

There are no Ns or any other consonants

in this squad!

Hit the deck and give me a "u"!

( U gasping desperately )

SARGE: Front and center, U!

( footsteps )

State your long and short sounds!

"U" is my long sound

"uh" is my short sound, sir!

Hmm, suddenly, you get surrounded

by a "c" and a "t"!

Sound?!

"Uh," sir.

And the word?

"Cut," sir.

"Cut," correct...

But say they throw a silent "e"

at the right flank.

What's the drill, soldiers?

( chanting )

Correct!

So what's your sound now, U?

"U," sir!

SARGE: And the word?

"Cute"...

sir!

Correct, Private U.

You are a cut above!

All right, Vowel Squad, let's go make some words!

Forward, march!

( singsong ): Well, you missed me!

You missed me!

Now you've got to...

TROOPS: ♪ A, E, I, O, U, sometimes Y's a vowel, too! ♪

♪ Sound off-- A, E ♪

♪ Sound off-- I, O, U ♪

♪ Sound off-- A! E! I! O! U! ♪

♪ Y, too! ♪

LIONEL: Okay, here we go.