“Raise your hand if you want to make the world a better place!” Jay raised his own hand enthusiastically over his head as he looked at the students gathered in the elementary school library.
Cheap silver and green garlands swooped around the short bookshelves and back windows. Cutouts of Santa, snowmen, and reindeer were taped to the walls and shelves. A tree even Charlie Brown would have second thoughts about sat on the librarian’s desk, but I gave it points for the impressive number of ornaments its branches somehow supported.
Around fifty students between first and fifth grade sat in lime-green plastic chairs squeezed around tables. A pile of blank paper and a handful of pens had been placed in the center of each one. Teachers and librarians stood at the back of the room, along with a
