[electronic music]
[Norbert makes plane sounds]
[knock on door]
- Norby? - Uh-huh.
- It's Mandy.
Can I come in? - Uh-huh.
- Will you help me with my homework?
- Uh-uh.
- Come on Norby, please?
I helped you build your hockey net.
- [sighs] What do you want me to do?
- Just read this book and tell me what it's about
so I can answer questions at school tomorrow.
- Norbert: Why can't you read it yourself?
- 'Cause you're older.
You're a better reader than I am.
- So?
You can be a good reader too, but I can't do it for you.
You've got to do it for yourself.
- How?
- Well, when you're reading something,
you have to keep thinking.
You think about what you're reading
and about what you already know.
You just make sure you understand
what you're reading about.
- Hey...
Neat!
What is it?
- Uh, it's a landing light for the star jet.
- Mandy: Who's that?
- Holy camoley.
- Holy who? - Shh!
- My child, you must hurry to the land of Mojuste.
That evil genius Thorzuul has concocted his worst plot yet.
There is not a moment to lose!
- Where did you get that?
- Uh... Last Christmas, in my stocking.
Remember? - Sure...
- Anyway, I'm going to go over to Jason's for a little while.
Tell Mom I'll be back for dinner, okay?
- Okay...
[gentle music]
- Thunder and lightning, trumpets and drums.
Readers rejoice!
A Storyload comes.
[Bike-O-Tron rattles]
- Surprise!
[shimmer]
[gentle music]
[shimmer]
- Holy camoley, Mandy!
- Where are we?
- It's a long story.
This is a land called Mojuste,
and I have to try and save its people from an evil Storylord
named Thorzuul.
He's kind of like a wizard of reading.
- [clears throat]
- There's someone behind that bookcase.
- Norby, can we go home now?
- Shh, can't you read?
- All right, all right, you found me!
I give up.
Wait a minute!
You're not Thorzuul.
- Norbert Niesenden, apprentice Storylord, at your service.
And this is my assistant, Mandy.
- At your service.
- Well, this is a relief.
My name is Marian.
I'm the librarian here.
- How can we help you, Marian?
- Well, you might bring these children back to life.
- Looks like the work of Thorzuul, if I'm not mistaken.
- You most certainly aren't.
He has been coming here every day,
giving our children a reading test
to see if they knew how to understand what they're reading.
If the children can't answer the question,
you can see what happens.
- Is he coming today?
- I'm afraid so.
In fact, I thought you two were him and his loathsome chauffeur.
- I bet I could answer his questions, but he knows me.
He'd zap me just like he zapped the other kids.
If only you had someone he didn't know.
I think we could beat him at his own game.
- No way!
Come on, Norby.
You're a better reader than I am.
- Don't you remember what I was just telling you
about how to be a good reader?
- Uh-uh.
- Well, listen, 'cause it's up to you to save these kids.
I just had a reading class on this the other day.
- Mrs. Framish: Today, we're going to review what we know
about being good readers.
We're going to use this book, Gavin Spends the Night.
Before we begin, who can tell us what we should do first?
Angie?
- Try to guess what the story is about?
- Mrs. Framish: Good.
How do we do that?
- By looking at the picture on the cover, reading the title,
and thinking about them.
- Very good.
Now, who can tell us what they think this story
is going to be about?
Jason?
- I think this is about a boy
who spends the night at a friend's house
because it fits the title and the picture.
- Mrs. Framish: Do you all agree?
Yes, Angie.
- There's something else I do before starting to read.
- What's that?
- I think of what I already know
about what it's like sleeping over at a friend's.
Then I'll understand the story better when I read it.
- Very good.
We think before we read, don't we?
[chalk scrapes]
Yes, Norbert?
- I don't just think before I read a story.
I keep thinking the whole time.
- Good for you, Norbert.
That's very important too.
Norbert, can you show us how you keep thinking
while you're reading?
- Well, like on page 13 here.
It says, "We were having a great pillow fight.
"All of a sudden, my pillow slid out of its case
"and flew across the room.
"It headed for the lamp like a heat-seeking missile.
"Crash!
"'Uh-oh,' said Zachary.
Then there was a loud knock at the door."
Now, if I was reading this story, I would stop here
and try to predict what would happen next.
Like, they were having a pillow fight,
and they knocked the lamp over.
- How do you know they knocked the lamp over?
I don't see that written anywhere.
- Well, it says it flew towards the lamp,
and then it says, "Crash,"
and you can see it in the picture.
- Well, good for you, Norbert.
What do you think will happen next?
- So, anyway, the parents probably heard it,
and the loud knock at the door is probably one of them
coming to see what's going on.
That's what would happen at my house.
- Let's find out.
Angie, will you read for us?
- "We closed our eyes tight and pretended to be asleep.
"The door opened.
"'Well, well, well,' said Zachary's father.
"'Everyone's asleep.
"'It looks like we've been invaded by flying pillows
from outer space.'"
- Thank you, Angie.
Good for you, Norbert.
You thought about what you read, and about what you know,
and you guessed who was at the door.
Did you all think it was going to be one of the parents?
Good.
Yes, Jason?
- On the page before,
I didn't understand what a heat-seeking missile was.
- What do we do when we are reading something,
and we don't understand?
Yes, Norbert?
- You stop and look for clues, reread the page,
look at the pictures, read ahead,
and try to figure it out.
- Or you can ask someone.
Or if it's a word you don't understand,
you could look it up in the dictionary.
- Excellent.
Jason, can you find a clue
about a heat-seeking missile on page 13?
- Well, a missile looks like a rocket.
I've seen 'em on TV.
- Mrs. Framish: Anybody else?
- We could look it up in the dictionary.
- Well, it says it headed for the lamp
like a heat-seeking missile,
and lamps get hot when they're on.
So, maybe it's a missile that hits things that are hot.
- Good thinking, Norbert.
That's about right.
And I'm very proud of all of you.
If you can keep doing the things that we have talked about today
while you're reading,
you're going to become very good readers indeed.
But remember...
- But remember, you have to make the effort.
No one else can do it for you.
Can you remember all that, Mandy?
- Mm-hmm.
Think before you read, and think while you read.
[electronic music]
- Oh, I'm afraid Thorzuul has arrived.
- We'd better hide.
Good luck, Mandy.
- Announcing his Royal Badness, the one and only Thorzuul!
- Milkbreath?
Shh. - Huh?
- Can't you read? - Sorry.
- Aha, look!
Another pint-sized victim for us.
[evil laughter]
Little girl, do you know who I am?
- A big, fat, scary man?
- So much for the friendly approach.
Here.
Have you ever seen this book before?
- Mandy: Mm, no.
- Good. [Milkbreath chuckles]
Since you're such a smart little girl,
I won't zap you like I zapped your friends here
if you can tell me what the story is about.
- [thinks] Hmm.
Think before you read.
I think that's important.
Looks like a giraffe.
- Thorzuul: Well?
- Mm, I think the sultan gets a giraffe for a new pet.
- A lucky guess.
- It wasn't luck.
I figured it out by the title and the picture on the cover.
- Thorzuul: Oh, I see.
Well, if you're so smart, then read that page
and tell me what happens next.
We've got her now. [both chuckle]
- [thinks] Hmm.
Think while you read.
"Poor giraffe!
"She hit her head on low palm tree branches,
"on the doorways into the sultan's palace, everything!
"The sultan looked out of the window at the men
"building the new royal zoo.
"Suddenly, he noticed their hats.
"He had an idea.
'Call the royal hatmaker!' he cried."
[thinks] The giraffe's head hurts.
I think that's important.
And the sultan sees men wearing hard hats.
- Time's up.
- I think the sultan gets a hard hat for the giraffe.
- [sputters] She did it!
She got it right!
- It was easy.
I just looked for clues in the words and the pictures.
- I lose... again!
[shimmer]
You!
I should have known.
- I don't believe you've been introduced to my sister.
- Sister?
[harrumphs] Milkbreath,
get me out of here!
- Kids in unison: Shhh!
- Thorzuul: Huh? - Can't you read?
[Thorzuul harrumphs]