1989
In the Magic Library, Zazi, Norbert and Leon, three eager young mice, are treated to a story from the story reader, an eccentric old magician rabbit. Their reading skills are honed as they enjoy "Long Neck and Thunder Foot" by Helen Piers - a story of two dinosaurs who had never seen another dinosaur before, and are frightened and paranoid about each other when they do.
1989
Zazi, Leon, Norbert and the story reader are visited by a princess, who was to read them a story about princesses but was so busy with her royal duties that she only brought them some words and phrases to do with princesses. The mice ponder about what makes a princess, and ask the story reader to read them a story about princesses. He claims to not know any but the Magic Library puts all the words and phrases together to present to them the book, "The Princess and the Pea" by Hans Christian Andersen - a story of mystery as a young girl claiming to be a princess is tested to see if she really is a princess so she can marry the prince.
1989
As Zazi, Leon and Norbert wait for storytime, a crazy witch appears in the Magic Library. She tells them a story about witches and mice, "The Witch in the Ditch".
1989
Zazi correctly infers a message on the bulletin board in the Magic Library that their story today is about indigenous people. At storytime, an old Micmac grandmother tells the three mice the tale of "Little Dirty Face".
1989
Zazi, Norbert and Leon come into the Magic Library wearing shirts with words on them. Suddenly, an evil goblin, who is so envious, tries to trick them and steal a shirt for himself. The mice outsmart him by reading "Bill and the Google-Eyed Goblins" by Alice Shertle - a story of a boy who is kidnapped by goblins and has to perform a secret dance and outwit the goblins to escape - thus learning the goblin's tricks and how to outsmart him.
1989
When the mice summon a fairy to read them their story, they are surprised when an old hag appears. She reads them a different kind of fairy tale, "Sleeping Ugly, by Jane Yolen, playing with the fairy tale of 'Sleeping Beauty', keeping the mice wondering what will happen next.
1989
When the story reader asks the three mice for some words to create a story, he is dumbfounded when Norbert chooses words all to do with the them of baseball. Unable to give them a story, he challenges the mice to create their own story. The mice take viewers through the steps of writing a story, and after discussing the main characters, a problem, and the plot, they produce their story, "Major League Mouse".
1989
As the mice think about and discuss what makes a good wish or a bad wish, a stranger in a hat, dark glasses and a trench coat arrives. He offers to grant them a wish that everything they touch will turn to gold. Unsure of the situation, Zazi manages to find out from him that he has offered this wish to others before and that there's a story about it. Zazi wants the story read to them before they decide on whether to accept the wish. He reads them the Ancient Greek legend of "King Midas and the Golden Touch" - the story of a king so greedy for gold, he wishes that everything he touches turns to gold. All is good until he touches his food, his water and his daughter. The mice hurry to decide if this wish is so good by reading the story.
1989
The mice are confused when everything in the Magic Library is backwards, including the clock and the words on the bulletin board being written backwards. They meet Backwards Man, who insists on reading them the old English tale of "Tom Tit Tot" in reverse. The mice figure it is a story very similar to the story of Rumpelstiltskin, when presented with the ending line of 'Nimmy, nimmy, not, you're name is Tom Tit Tot'. But they must guess how the story flows as they read from 'back to front', trying to learn how the story goes.
1989
The Magic Library does not have an adventure story about a mouse, so the story reader makes one up with the help of Zazi, Leon and Norbert. Their story is "The Adventures of a Mouse" - the story of a boastful mouse named Milton who tries to prove that he is a hero.
1989
Zazi, Leon and Norbert are mystified when they hear a strange and unusual voice in the magic Library. Suddenly, they realise it is a tiny spider who transforms into the African folk hero Anansi. Anansi reads them the African folk tale of "Anansi and Old Man Mud Turtle", asking his audience to picture the places that the folktale is set by listening to the words the story uses.
1989
The mice find a book without a title on the shelf in the Magic Library, but guess from the picture of the front cover that it is about a Mouse Space Agency. The storyreader dubs the book "Mouse in Space" and then reads it to them.
1989
It is Poetry reading Day in the Magic Library, and the mice are surprised to find that they can only speak in rhyme. A visiting poetry arrives and reads to them poems from the book collection, "Nicholas Knock" by Dennis Lee. He claims it as his own, until the mice expose his fraud and he confesses that he loves poetry but cannot write it, taking the audience on a discussion of what makes poetry and how to write it.