“You’re getting to be a big boy. Each day, I grow some more. I like exploring my way. Growing up is not so tough, except when I’ve had enough. But there’s lots of fun stuff. That’s me, Caillou the librarian, fishy. Caillou and Rosie were having lots of fun playing with Caillou’s library card. ‘No, Rosie, that’s my fishy… I mean library card. Maybe you’ll get your own library card one day.’ ‘Oh, library!’ ‘That’s right, Rosie. We’re going to the library today for story time.’ ‘Story time! Yay!’ ‘Will we get to take some books home, mommy?’ ‘Of course, you and Rosie can each borrow a few books.’ ‘Maybe they’ll have a book about fish.’ Caillou could hardly wait to get to the library. ‘Oh, fishy.’ ‘That’s right, Rosie.’ ‘Oh, we have a few minutes before story time. Why don’t you take Rosie to the board books, Caillou?’ ‘Okay, come on, Rosie.’ Caillou had been to the library lots of times, and he knew exactly where to go. ‘These books are for little kids like you, Rosie.’ ‘Open.’ ‘Peace.’ ‘That’s right, Rosie, the cow says.’ ‘And the piggy goes.’ ‘I’m glad you two are enjoying your book, but could you please try to be a little bit quieter? Others might be trying to read or work.'”
“Okay, mommy, I’m going to find my own book.” Caillou didn’t want a book about cats; he wanted a book about fish. “Mommy?” “Yes, Caillou?” “I can’t find a book about fish.” “Did I hear someone say fish? It just so happens that we’re reading a book about the ocean in story time today. Are you here for story time?” “Yes.” “Well, we’re just about to begin. Come on.” “Hi, everyone! My name is Vanessa. Has anyone ever been to the ocean before? There are lots of creatures that live in the ocean. This story is about a dolphin named Daphne. Dolphins aren’t fish; they’re mammals. But when you see dolphins, there are sure to be fish nearby.” As Caillou listened to the story, he imagined what it would be like to swim with a real dolphin. “Hello, Daphne Dolphin. Let’s look for fish over there. There must be some fish around here somewhere.” “You’re not a fish.” “Hello, Mr. Turtle.” “Wow, you’ve been terrific listeners. Did you enjoy the story?” “Super! We’ve got lots of other good books here in the library. I hope everyone will leave here with a story or two.” “Can we pick out some books now, mommy?” “Of course. Would you like to borrow this one? It has lots of fish in it.” “Yes, please. Thank you.” “You’re welcome.” “Fishy book.” “No, Rosie, that’s my book.” “Oh no, Caillou didn’t know what to do. He thought the librarian might get angry if she saw the torn book.”
At first, Caillou decided to hide the book, but that didn’t feel like the right thing to do. “We better show mommy. Rosie and I ripped it, but it was an accident. We’re sorry, mommy.” “I’m sure Vanessa will understand. Do we have to tell her? What if she won’t let me take out any more books?” “She seems very nice. She may even be able to fix it.” Caillou knew this was the right thing to do. “Okay, mommy, we’ll show her.” “Hi there, can I help you?” “Um, my sister and I were fighting over this book, and it sort of ripped. We’re sorry.” “I see. Well, perhaps the two of you would like to help me fix it?” “Sure.” “How do you like the idea of helping the librarian?” “Stickers!” “It is a bit like stickers, isn’t it? Now you two need to promise me that you’ll be more careful with our books.” “We will.” “As good as new and all ready for you to sign out. Are there any other books you’d like to borrow?” “Look, Rosie, your very own library card. It’s just like mine. Caillou the bookworm.” Caillou, mommy, and Rosie were just returning from a trip to the library. Caillou had a whole bunch of books he just couldn’t wait to look at, especially the one about pirates looking for treasure. “Hey, everybody, did you have fun at the library?” “Hi, daddy. I got lots of books. This one’s about pirates looking for treasure, arr matey!” “Have you got some books too, Rosie? Horsey book, daddy. Play horsey?” “Sorry, sweetie, I’m doing yard work this afternoon.” “Mommy?” “No, honey, I’ve got a lot to do today. Grandma’s coming over to play with you.” “Grandma, play horsey?” “And what are you going to do today, Caillou?” “Look at my books.” “Hi, Gilbert.” Caillou got nice and comfortable. Now he was ready to look at his book. “Look, Gilbert, the pirate has a pet parrot. That’s a bird that can talk. I wish you could talk. I forgot, you can talk.” On the first page, the pirate was sailing his ship to a little island. “Gilbert, I can’t see.” “Gilbert!” “That’s better, Gilbert, you silly cat.” Caillou had to find somewhere else to look at his book, somewhere where Gilbert wouldn’t interrupt him. The playroom looked like a good place to look at his book. “Rosie, horsey. Hello, Caillou. Would you like to play horsey with us?” “No, I’m looking at my library book now.” “Alright, we’ll try to be quiet. Come, Rosie, let’s draw some horsies. Horsie, horsie, horsey, horsey.” Caillou was finding it hard to concentrate on his book with Rosie talking. “Now, Rosie dear, come back over here with me. Caillou needs some quiet so he can concentrate on his book.” “Horsey, horsey, horsey, horsey.” “That’s okay, I can go somewhere else. I’m sure you can find a quiet spot somewhere. Maybe try the living room.” “Okay, thanks, Grandma.” “Horsey, horsey, horsey, horsey. Hoisie, hoisty, hoisty, horsey.” Caillou thought Grandma was right. He needed to find a quiet place to enjoy his book, and the living room looked perfect. “Army!” Now it was too noisy for Caillou to concentrate on his book. “Mommy?” “Sorry, honey, I didn’t see you. Are you trying to look at your pirate book?” “Yeah.” “I’m afraid I have to do the vacuuming in here.” “Okay, mommy, I’ll find another quiet place.” “Thank you, Caillou.” Caillou couldn’t see Gilbert anywhere. Maybe now he could look at his book. “Oh, Gilbert, not again!” Now, where could Caillou look at his book in peace and quiet? Caillou thought the closet would be a very good place to look at his book. It was quiet, and there was nobody to bother him. Caillou imagined that he was the pirate in the story. “That must be where the treasure is, matey. I’d better check the map. Let’s see…”
Polly, I need some quiet so I can look at my map. The treasure is buried under that tree. I’m getting hungry. Oh boy, this is it! Real pirate treasure. I wonder what’s inside. Here you go, Polly, one for you and one for me. Now that’s a good treasure, Caillou.
Caillou, I don’t know where he could be. He’s not downstairs or outside. Here I am, Caillou. There you are, Caillou, hiding. Were you playing hide and seek? No, I wanted to look at my book in a quiet place, and my closet was the quietest place in the whole house. Can you play now? Yep, I’m all finished my book. Ah, matey, I’m a pirate.
Hey, you pirate! Arr, matey! I like looking at books. I like looking at books, too. Books can bring the world to you, show you things that you never knew. I like looking at books. I like looking at books. There are books on butterflies and birds. I look at pictures and even the words. Books on pirates and their tales, books with pictures of sharks and whales. Books on cowboys and the west, but I like dinosaur books the best. They’re my favorite.
Books on hockey and every sport, books that show you how to build a fort. You can learn to tie your laces, you can learn to make funny faces. Look, Rosie, I like looking at books. I like looking at books. They show you lots of things you need. I just can’t wait till I can read. Me too, Caillou, the storyteller.
Caillou was having fun playing with his friends, Jason and Jeffrey, but they were starting to get a little too loud. Boys, let’s use our indoor voices, please. But we’re having a roaring contest. If we go outside, can we use outside voices? Good thinking, Caillou. It is almost time to play outside. It’s raining. Oh dear, I guess we won’t be going outside to play right now.
Caillou was disappointed. He really wanted to go outside. I don’t like rain. Where does all that water come from, anyway? That’s a good question. Does anyone know where the rain comes from? From the clouds, right? But do you know how it gets there? Come on, I’ll show you.
Water starts out in lakes and rivers. Over time, it evaporates, which means it goes into the air and up to the clouds. When clouds are full of water, they’re like sponges that can’t hold anymore, so they let go of the water and it rains. Oh, and the rain makes the grass grow, right?
Caillou knew that rain was good sometimes, but right now he really wanted to go outside and play. I wish I could make the rain stop. Don’t worry, Super Caillou will make it stop raining. It feels like the sponge Daddy uses to wash the car. I know, I’ll squeeze out all the rain. Hahaha, I stopped the rain! You can come out and play now. Hooray, Caillou!
If the rain stops, we can go outside and play. But for now, why don’t you pick out a book to look at? Books are a great way to have fun on a rainy day. Okay, look, I’ve got “Jack and the Beanstalk,” and it has a giant in it. I found a book about dinosaurs. What are you gonna read, Caillou? I want a book about a superhero. Hmm, what kind of superhero? A superhero who makes it stop raining. I don’t think we have a book like that, Caillou, but would you like to write one? I could help you.
Okay, now why don’t you tell me your superhero story, and I’ll write it down. Um, once upon a time, everybody wanted to go outside, but it was raining. So the superhero, what was his name? Super Caillou. That’s a good name. What did Super Caillou do? He flew up to the clouds, that’s where the rain comes from. And the clouds were big sponges full of water, so he flew up on top of the clouds. Was anybody else up there? Yeah, a giant and a dinosaur. Oh my, a giant and a dinosaur in the clouds. Then what happened? Um, so Super Caillou wanted to stop the rain, and yeah, the clouds were wet because the giant was washing his car and he left the hose running.
Caillou enlisted the help of a giant and a dinosaur to squish out all the water from the clouds. They jumped up and down, squishing the water out with a satisfying “squish squish.” Once they had successfully squished out all the water, the rain stopped, and they all hopped into the giant’s car for a ride.
What a wonderful story! Now that we have it all written down, we just need to add some illustrations. Caillou painted a collection of pictures to accompany his book, and he was especially proud of his last one. After the paint dried, Miss Martin kindly helped Caillou tie all the pages together with yarn. And there we have it! Congratulations, Caillou, you’re now an author. You wrote your own book and even created the illustrations.
Oh, look at this! You made this story come to life with your illustrations. It looks like such an exciting story. Would you like to take the book home or leave it here for everyone to enjoy?
Hmm, Caillou decided to leave the book here so that Jason and Jeffrey could have a look at it. That’s very thoughtful of you, Caillou. Goodbye, and congratulations once again on becoming a real author. Your family is so proud to have you!
