Wolves by Emily Gravett

I love kids like Rabbit. It's silent reading time in the classroom. These students get so absorbed in their book that they attempt to get up from their desk, traverse the classroom to the kleenex box, blow their nose one handed while crossing the room to the trash can (ignoring the one next to the kleenex box, incidentally), return to their desk, and attempt to place their bottom squarely upon the seat - and do it all without removing their eyes from their book or their book from in front of their face!

Ever see a kid walk into a wall? Trip on a classmate? Completely miss the trash with the used kleenex and not know she missed? Stop mid-stride and look up with an expression that says, "Why am I at the teacher's desk?"

That's nothing compared to Rabbit.

Rabbit went to the library. The book he found - Wolves - was totally interesting. Nonfiction at its informative best. Rabbit learned about how wolves live in packs, where they live, their body makeup, and what they eat, such as deer, bison, and moose, and smaller mammals like beavers, voles, and...and...

Well, as you can imagine, the next word brought Rabbit out of his book induced hypnosis. Unfortunately he didn't realize, totally engrossed in his book as he was, that as he learned about wolves, real wolves seemed to come to life right off the pages of his book!

And that was the last book Rabbit ever enjoyed.

But fear not, ye weak of heart! Lovers of rabbits and all things fuzzy, read on! Emily Grrrabbit offers an alternate ending featuring vegetarians, jam sandwiches, best friends, and happily ever after.

Either way let this be a lesson to all read-walkers everywhere. Use a bookmark. Watch where you're going. Pay attention to your surroundings. Use two hands to blow your nose. That's one great thing about books. They'll still be there after you walk home from the library or when you return to your desk. Mark your page, safely accomplish whatever task interrupted your reading, and live to read another day.