The Cover Was Beautiful

Chapter 1The Repair Shelf

Rochel had one hour to help in the school library before her class returned.

Mrs. Feld, the librarian, wore a blue headscarf and carried a short stack of books to the repair table.

"Leave anything difficult for me," she said. "You can help with the loose paper jackets."

Rochel chose a book with a torn jacket and a faded picture of a garden.

Its corners curled outward. One edge had a long rip.

She found a piece of matching paper and set to work.

Chapter 2Almost Matching

Rochel found a patch close to the color of the old jacket.

She trimmed it carefully and tucked it behind the rip. Mrs. Feld checked the fit and showed her where the library tape should go.

Now the rip was closed, but the patch had a sharp corner beside the rounded garden picture.

Rochel trimmed a paper leaf to cover it.

Across the table, the rest of the stack waited.

Chapter 3The Quiet Stack

Rochel's friend Leah returned a book and stopped to look.

"That cover is beautiful."

Rochel smiled.

"I'm putting one more leaf here."

Leah glanced at the stack.

"Is that the book my class asked for?"

She pointed to a plain brown volume underneath the garden book.

"We need the animal chapter tomorrow."

Rochel had not opened that book. Its cover did not look torn.

"I think it's ready," she said.

Chapter 4Inside the Plain Cover

Mrs. Feld came back before Leah took the book.

She opened it on the table, supporting its pages.

A section near the middle shifted away from the binding.

Leah kept her hands back.

"Those are the animal pages," she said.

Mrs. Feld closed the book carefully.

"This one needs my repair before it can go out."

Rochel looked at the paper leaf in her hand.

"I spent most of the hour on the jacket. I didn't check the rest."

Chapter 5What a Reader Needs

Mrs. Feld set the two books beside each other.

The garden jacket was neat now. The plain book still could not be used safely without losing pages.

"I should have asked which needed attention first," Rochel said.

Mrs. Feld nodded.

"Help me check the jackets on these others. We will set aside anything with loose pages for me. Don't pull on a binding to test it."

Rochel placed the decorative leaf in her scrap envelope.

Then she brought the remaining books over one at a time for Mrs. Feld to check.

Chapter 6A Plain Finish

One jacket only needed its folded edge straightened. Another had a tear Mrs. Feld helped tape.

Rochel wrote the title neatly on a plain protective jacket for a book whose old one was too damaged to keep.

The plain jacket fitted neatly, and its title was easy to read.

"Can I decorate it next time?" she asked.

"Once the needed work is done," Mrs. Feld said.

Rochel put it on the ready shelf without adding a single leaf.

Chapter 7The Book That Could Go Out

Mrs. Feld finished the binding repair later. When it was ready, she sent the animal book to Leah's class.

The next library day, Leah brought it back.

"We used the whole chapter," she told Rochel. "Nothing slipped out."

Rochel still liked the garden book's repaired jacket.

But when Mrs. Feld brought a new stack to the table, Rochel did not begin with the prettiest cover.

"Which ones are waiting for readers?" she asked.

The scrap envelope stayed closed while they checked the books together.