Here Lies the Librarian By Richard Peck

The book opens with a tornado wrecking havoc on a small Indiana town. When fourteen-year-old Peewee (whose real name is Eleanor), her big brother Jake, and their relatives Colonel and Aunt Hat Hazelrig and Sparks, their garage dog, take shelter in the basement of the family auto repair facility, they don’t know what to expect when they emerge. When they do, they find that their property has suffered very little damage, but the twister has made its way through the graveyard that lies between their property and the town, exposed caskets in its wake. One of them was the not-much-loved town librarian; the library has been closed since the librarian died. The library had been damaged by the tornado as well.

Peewee helps out her brother at his repair shop until four young ladies stop to have a tire mended and realize with a start that when Peewee takes off her cap, she reveals herself to be a girl. The four young women are library students from Indiana University and are shocked that the small town’s library is closed, and that no funds exist for its revival. As they are all from wealthy families, they appear at the town board meeting with plans and funds to refurbish the library. The town board accepts.

In the meantime, Jake is putting the finishing touches on a car he’s built to enter the ten-lap Hendricks County Fair against the Kirby brothers’ auto business. One morning, Jake finds his beloved car missing from its garage and immediately assumes that the Kirbys have stolen it only to have Grace, a librarian and the heiress of the Stutz Bearcat fortune offer up her car for Jake to drive. Jake takes her up on her offer only to injure himself in the first few rounds. Grace and Irene talk Eleanor into finishing the race, and not only does she finish, she wins.

Lexile: 780
145 pages