by Michael Dahl
Chapter 1: WET
Chapter 2: STRANGE SCRATCHES
Chapter 3: BACK TO THE LIBRARY
Chapter 4: FOOTPRINTS AND FOOTNOTES
Chapter 5: THE LEGEND
Chapter 6: INKFOOT
Behold the Library of Doom! The world’s largest collection of deadly and dangerous books. Only the Librarian can prevent these books from falling into the hands of those who would use them for evil.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A CREATURE LEAVES ITS FOOTPRINTS INSIDE BOOKS . . . ?
Chapter 1
WET
“What’s wrong with Bronco?” asks Owen’s mother.
BRONCO is Owen’s dog.
He has owned Bronco since the dog was a puppy.
Owen hears Bronco growling and barking outside.
“You better go bring him inside,” says Owen’s mother.
“Maybe he’s got a BEAR!” says Owen’s little brother, Doug.
Owen takes his flashlight and steps outside.
Bronco has STOPPED barking.
“Where are you, boy?” calls Owen.
Owen’s family lives in a town in the MOUNTAINS.
No one has ever seen a bear in the town before.
But Owen knows there is ALWAYS a first time.
Something big and dark crashes through the bushes by the toolshed.
Owen sees another dark shape LYING inside the toolshed.
“Bronco!” yells Owen.
The dog is quiet. It is still breathing, but its eyes are SHUT.
On the ground near Bronco’s body are large FOOTPRINTS.
They are not bear prints. They are bigger than bear prints.
Owen also sees a book. It is an overdue library book.
He must have left it in the toolshed.
Owen knows he will have to PAY a huge fine.
Owen reaches out his hand to pet his injured dog.
The fur is wet. Blood? wonders Owen.
Owen SHINES his flashlight on his wet hand.
It is covered in thick black liquid.
INK.
Chapter 2
STRANGE SCRATCHES
Owen’s mother called the vet after Owen carried Bronco inside.
Owen and the vet both LEAN over the dog.
The vet wears gloves. He carefully checks Bronco’s body.
“He’s been scratched,” says the vet. “It looks BAD.”
Then the vet looks closely at Bronco’s eyes.
“I think your dog has been poisoned,” he says.
“Poison?” exclaims Owen’s little brother.
“I’ve never seen SCRATCHES like these before,” says the vet. “I’m not sure what kind of animal attacked Bronco.”
Then the vet looks at Owen’s mother. “I think I should take the DOG back with me,” he says.
The vet drives off with Bronco in his back seat.
“Don’t worry,” says Owen’s mother. “The vet will know what to do.”
But how could he? wonders Owen. He said he’d never seen scratches like that before.
Who — or what — made those footprints?
Chapter 3
BACK TO THE LIBRARY
Owen grabs his flashlight and steps back outside.
He RETURNS to the toolshed and picks up the library book. “This book is months overdue,” he says to himself.
Owen doesn’t have the money to pay the fine.
Then he REMEMBERS another book.
It was a book in the library that he loved to look through.
It had PHOTOS of every kind of animal’s footprints.
Owen would be able to find the footprints of the animal that HURT his dog.
Then the vet would know how to treat Bronco. The boy glances quickly at his house.
Then he stuffs the book into his jacket pocket, and starts running down the road.
The woods are dark and cold. Snowflakes fall from the frozen sky.
A few times, Owen hears growls from behind the trees.
Each time he does, the library book seems to SQUIRM in his pocket.
Chapter 4
FOOTPRINTS AND FOOTNOTES
Finally, Owen sees the light up ahead. He darts through the library door.
No one else is inside the library except for Ms. Eel.
“Almost CLOSING time, Owen,” says Ms. Eel. “I’m getting ready to go home.”
“Yes, ma’am,” says Owen.
He sets the overdue book on the counter.
Then he RUNS toward a corner of the library.
It is the reference section.
His eyes scan the titles of books on animals and HUNTING.
“There’s the book,” whispers Owen.
He PULLS a thick book from the top shelf.
The book is FULL of hundreds of photos.
Each photo shows an animal’s footprints.
But something is WRONG with the book.
On page after page, the PHOTOS are covered up.
Some are crowded off the page.
The book has been filled with strange FOOTNOTES.
Owen FLIPS through more and more pages.
He can’t find the footprints he is looking for.
Ms. Eel steps into the aisle.
“Owen,” she says, “did you know there’s a BIG fine on that book you brought back?”
Then she looks over the boy’s shoulder and sees the reference book.
Ms. Eel gasps. “Not again!” she whispers.
Chapter 5
THE LEGEND
Owen watches Ms. Eel’s eyes GROW wide with fear.
Ms. Eel suddenly pulls another book off the shelf and opens it.
Then she grabs another and another. She opens each book and THROWS it to the floor.
Then Ms. Eel glances around the empty library. “We have to get out of here,” she says.
“What’s going on?” asks Owen.
“It’s here again,” says Ms. Eel. “We have to leave. NOW!”
“What’s here?” asks Owen. He hears a loud growl outside the library door.
Ms. Eel freezes.
Then she grabs Owen’s hand. “In the back room,” she says. “Hurry!”
The growl GROWS louder.
Suddenly, several books fly off the shelves.
Ms. Eel SCREAMS and covers her head.
Owen and Ms. Eel run into the back room of the library. She quickly TURNS and locks the door behind them.
>
The woman stares nervously through a small window in the door.
“What’s going on?” demands Owen. “And what’s wrong with all the books?”
Ms. Eel kneels down. “Have you ever heard of INKFOOT?” she asks quietly.
Owen frowns. “You mean Bigfoot?” he asks.
“No, Inkfoot,” says Ms. Eel. “Bigfoot is just a myth. Inkfoot is real.”
“He HIDES inside books,” explains Ms. Eel. “Most people never know he even exists, until he comes out of the books. And he never does that unless something makes him ANGRY. Or frightens him.”
Like a barking dog? Owen thinks to himself.
Ms. Eel grabs the book that Owen was still holding.
“See these pages?” she says. “Footnotes. That’s how you FOLLOW his trail.”
Owen stares down at the pages.
He looks at the footnotes covering the photos.
He thinks of the INK that covered Bronco’s fur.
Owen needs to tell the vet about Inkfoot.
“We have to call for HELP,” he says.
“There’s no phone back here,” says Ms. Eel. “I don’t have a cell phone with me. Do you?”
Owen shakes his head.
Owen stands up and looks out through the door’s WINDOW.
Facing the window is a tall shelf of books.
In the spines of the books, Owen sees a dark shape.
The shadow stretches from the bottom shelf all the way to the top.
The shadow seems to cover at least a hundred books.
It looks like a gigantic hairy beast.
Chapter 6
INKFOOT
“It’s out there,” says Owen.
The creature’s growls fill the library.
Shadowy arms throw books and shelves to the floor.
They hurl chairs against tables.
Hairy fists smash through computer screens.
“I can’t see it now,” says the boy.
Then he looks down at the floor of the library’s main room.
A DARK puddle covers the rug.
The puddle is GROWING.
“Owen!” yells Ms. Eel. “Look!”
Ink is seeping through the bottom of the door.
Soon, the ink is several feet deep. The thick, dark liquid SWIRLS through the room.
“Don’t touch it,” says Owen. “It’s poison!”
Owen looks at Ms. Eel. She is touching a shiny brooch pinned to her sweater.
It is shaped like the letter L. The L begins to GLOW.
A WHIRLPOOL forms in the middle of the room.
The ink begins to drain away, pouring down the sides of a huge well.
Suddenly, a man FLIES up from the well.
He wears a long dark coat and dark glasses.
“The Librarian!” shouts Ms. Eel.
“I came as soon as I saw your signal,” says the man, nodding at her BROOCH.
He flies out the door of the back room and into the library.
The shadow of Inkfoot rises up among the bookshelves.
The Librarian raises his hands. A powerful wind blows from his fingertips.
The monster’s shadow BREAKS into small, square pieces.
“Here is Inkfoot,” says the man. “Or, at least what’s left of him.”
The Librarian shows a piece of paper to Ms. Eel. It is a sheet of ENDNOTES.
Then the wind blows Owen’s overdue book into the Librarian’s hands.
The man looks down at it and grins.
“If you don’t mind, Ms. Eel,” says the Librarian. “Instead of being OVERDUE, I think what we need is a do over.”
The man claps the covers of the book together.
A blaze of lightning FLASHES through the library.
Owen and Ms. Eel both gasp. The library has been returned to normal.
All the books are back in their place. The computers and chairs are no longer smashed.
Ms. Eel looks up at the clock. “Closing time,” she says.
She tells Owen NOT to worry about the fine.
And when Owen RUSHES back home, a healthy Bronco runs out to greet him.
AUTHOR
Michael Dahl is the author of more than 200 books for children and young adults. He has won the AEP Distinguished Achievement Award three times for his nonfiction. His Finnegan Zwake mystery series was shortlisted twice by the Anthony and Agatha awards. He has also written the Library of Doom series. He is a featured speaker at conferences around the country on graphic novels and high-interest books for boys.
ILLUSTRATOR
Bradford Kendall has enjoyed drawing for as long as he can remember. As a boy, he loved to read comic books and watch old monster movies. He graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in Illustration. He has owned his own commercial art business since 1983, and lives in Providence, Rhode Island, with his wife, Leigh, and their two children Lily and Stephen. They also have a cat named Hansel and a dog named Gretel.
GLOSSARY
brooch (BROOCH or BROHCH)—a piece of jewelry that can be pinned to your clothes
fine (FINE)—a sum of money paid as punishment for doing something wrong
footnote (FUT-noht)—a note at the bottom of a page that explains something in the text. Endnotes are the same notes, but collected at the end of a chapter or a book.
injured (IN-jurd)—hurt
myth (MITH)—a story that people believe
overdue (oh-vur-DOO)—late
poisoned (POI-zuhnd)—given a harmful substance
reference (REF-uh-ruhnss)—a book that helps find information
scan (SKAN)—look carefully and closely
signal (SIG-nuhl)—a way of sending a message
spines (SPINEZ)—the central, vertical pieces of book covers
Real name: unknown (may begin with a T or a G)
Parents: unknown
Birthplace/birthdate: unknown
Questions: Has he always existed? Will he ever be defeated? Are there books he doesn’t protect?
Weaknesses: Water, crumbs, dirty fingers
Strengths: Speed reading, ability to fly, martial arts
Real name: Sophia (last name unknown)
Parents: unknown
Birthplace/birthdate: America, 20th century
Questions: What is her role in protecting the Librarian? Can she be stopped?
Weaknesses: Bad listeners
Strengths: Does not need sleep, can research anything
After leaving Ms. Eel’s library, the Librarian took the piece of paper containing Inkfoot’s endnotes to the Specialist’s lab. There, the Specialist tested the paper. Using a special kind of disappearing ink, she tried to erase the Inkfoot endnotes. It did not work.
She then tried to burn the paper. It burned, but the notes collected on a nearby notepad.
When the Specialist tried to destroy the notepad by cutting it into tiny pieces of paper, the notepad turned into a small pack of sticky notes.
They now remain in the Librarian’s office, locked safely away.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Is it fair for a librarian to fine a student who does not return a book on time? Why or why not?
If Owen had not gone to the library, what do you think would have HAPPENED?
Owen goes to the library to figure out what kind of animal could have attacked his dog. What would you have done?
WRITING PROMPTS
Imagine another way that the Librarian could have defeated INKFOOT. How does he do it? Write about it.
CREATE your own book cover. Don’t forget to add the text on the back and give your book a title!
Write about your favorite book. What is it about? Who wrote it? Why is it your favorite?
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