♪ 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! ♪

There! If that doesn't bring the customers in

I don't know what will.

( crowd chattering )

( grunting )

Hey, Dad, how's it going?

Huh? What? Aces.

What do you say we go inside?

It's just about storytelling time.

Oh, right, inside.

Okey-doke.

Right.

Inside is that way.

Welcome, yes, come in.

We have a special storyteller today.

Special storyteller.

Hiya, Mom!

Lionel, at least put

your baseball things away

and get ready for story time, okay?

CLEO: Here you go.

Don't miss our special storyteller.

Storytelling day today at the library, lady.

That means a special storyteller is coming

to tell us stories.

Yes, I know.

You do?

Oh, hello, Karen.

Welcome to our library.

Huh?

Leona, dear

this is the storyteller.

Oh... hi!

Ms. Kandel, please

come right on in, won't you?

Thank you for inviting me.

Oh, thank you for coming.

We have a full house today.

Follow me-- I'll show you

where the auditorium is.

THEO: Great story, I loved that.

Now, this last story comes to us

from a people called the Ashanti.

THEO: Ashanti!

The Ashanti people live here

on the west coast of Africa.

Ashanti chiefs used to sit on stools a lot like this one.

Some of them weave beautiful fabric, like this.

CLEO: Oh, isn't that lovely!

Some of them catch fish with traps, like this.

( audience murmurs )

LEONA: That's for fish!

And some of them are countrymen.

They grow food for the Ashanti people to eat

such as the big root vegetables called yams.

This is a yam.

Now, our word "yam" is actually an African word.

It means something like "yummy."

THEO: Yummy!

Whoo! I know that word.

Well, once an Ashanti countryman went out to gather some yams.

And as he was digging...

( imitates countryman grunting )

...he heard a voice:

"Hey, man, you never looked after me.

"You never weeded me.

"Now you think you can come to dig me up?

Leave me alone."

The man looked around.

"Who's doing that yapping," he asked.

"I am," said his yam.

( gasps )

Oh, spooky.

The man gasped.

( gasping )

"This can't be happening!"

But the yam said, "It can, it can!

Oh, yes, it can!"

The man dropped the yam and ran away...

( panting )

...as fast as his legs could carry him.

( panting )

He ran until he met a fisherman

who was standing on the path with a fish trap on his head.

"Now, are you, uh, running after an antelope?"

the fisherman asked.

"No!" said the countryman.

"My yam commanded me to leave him alone!"

( imitates fisherman laughing )

The fisherman laughed.

"That can't happen!"

( continues laughing )

But then a voice said, "It can...

"it can!

Oh, yes, it can!"

( audience gasps )

"Uh, who's doing that, uh, chattering?"

the fisherman asked.

"I am," said his fish trap.

The fisherman gasped.

( gasping )

"This can't be happening!"

But his fish trap said...

ALL:

The man dropped the fish trap

and both he and the countryman ran away...

( panting )

...as fast as their legs could carry them.

They ran until they met a weaver

who was holding a basket of fabric.

"Are you two running after a gazelle?" the weaver asked.

"No," said the countryman.

"My yam commanded me to leave him alone!"

"And, uh, my, uh, fish trap said

uh, he should have paid attention to his yam"

added the fisherman.

( imitating weaver chuckling )

The weaver laughed.

"That can't happen."

But then a voice said...

ALL:

"Who's doing that, uh, blabbering?" the weaver asked.

"I am!" said her fabric.

( gasps )

The weaver gasped.

( gasping )

"This can't be happening," said the weaver.

But her fabric said...

ALL:

The weaver dropped the fabric and the three of them ran away.

( imitating weaver, fisherman, and countryman panting )

They ran away as fast as their legs could carry them

until they arrived at the headman's house.

The headman was grasping his staff and sitting on his stool.

"Tell me what's happening here," he demanded.

"My yam commanded me to leave him alone!"

said the countryman.

"And, uh, my fish trap said

he should have paid attention to his yam," said the fisherman.

"And my fabric said it was glad."

At that, the headman got very angry.

"You people are imagining things.

"Yams can't talk, fish traps can't talk, fabric can't talk.

Now, go back to your work before I clap you in jail."

( gasps ) Uh-oh!

So the three of them went sadly away.

( audience sighs )

"That's absurd, fantastic," said the headman to himself.

"Uh... uh, I agree," said a voice.

"Imagine that."

"Who's that yammering?" he asked.

"I am," said his stool.

( gasps )

"This can't be happening!" he said.

But his stool said...

AUDIENCE:

( applause )

That was such a good story.

Thank you.

Listen, do you have time

to take a short tour of our library?

I'd like that very much.

Great-- I was hoping she'd say that.

Leona?

Yeah, yeah?

Will you keep an eye on all of my things?

Me? Oh, sure, sure, sure, I will.

We have quite a large collection of folk tales

right this way.

We're especially proud of our African section.

Hey, Leona, what's cooking?

Oh, Lionel, Lionel, guess what?

What?

I'm going to take care of her things.

Whoa, that's a big responsibility.

Hey, I'm going to play baseball.

See you later.

Oh, okay, see you later.

Wow! That was such a great story.

Hey, I wonder what that yam would say

if it could really talk.

Okay, little yammy.

( yam hits floor )

Oh, oh, oh, I dropped it!

Hey, next time be more careful.

Oh, I'm sorry.

( yells )

YAM: Ow!

( sighs )

What are you doing?

We're making a Buster sand... uh...

...wich.

Yeah, sandwich.

What planet is this?

( imitating short "a" sound in "can" )

( lively rock music playing )

Hey, it's standing room only

for Martha Reader and the Vowelles

singing that fabulous short "a," "a" sound in the word "pan."

( repeating "a" sound )

( repeating "a" sound )

( repeating "a" sound )

( repeating "a" sound )

( sequence continues )

ALL: Pan!

( monkeys hooting )

SOLDIERS: ♪ 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! ♪

All right, letter-heads

move it, move it, move it, move it, move it.

This isn't Camp Nappy-packy-wacky Lake.

This is vowel boot camp.

Now, sound off.

A.

E.

I.

O.

U.

( whiny ): Y.

On the double, A, and I'm not talking batteries.

State your long and short sounds!

"Ay" is my long sound and "a" is my short sound, sir.

Exactly.

But what if you're flanked suddenly

by an "M" and an "N"?

Sound?

"Ah."

Word!

"Man!"

Well done, soldier.

But what if an "I" slips through the lines

and stands next to you?

What's the general rule, soldiers?

SOLDIERS:

Right, so what's your sound now

vowel A?

"Ay."

Word!

"Main"!

Correct.

You are my main man.

Well, squad, let's go make some words.

Forward march!

( murmuring )

Don't step on the sergeant!

( sighs ): That was a vowel thing to do.

SOLDIERS: ♪ 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! ♪

( rock music playing )

MAN: ♪ If you can read A-T, "at" ♪

♪ Then you can read "cat" and "chat" ♪

♪ And you can read "bat" and "brat" ♪

♪ And you can read "drat." ♪

CHORUS: ♪ See, I got you reading with me. ♪

♪ All you need is a little A-T. ♪

♪ If you can read A-T, "at" ♪

♪ Then you can read "fat" and "flat" ♪

♪ And you can read "sat" and "scat" ♪

♪ And you can read "splat."

♪ See, I got you learning with words. ♪

♪ Don't you love every "at" that you've heard? ♪

♪ If you can read A-T, "at" ♪

♪ Then you can read "pat" and "hat " ♪

♪ And you can read "rat" ♪

♪ And you can read "bat"

♪ 'Cause you can read "at." ♪

( children cheering )

CLEO ( reading ):

( children giggling )

( children cheering )