Driving Team Read Online Free Page A

pretty blond woman in a bright blue sweater was putting books on a cart. She smiled as both girls approached the counter.
    “Hi, girls,” she said sweetly. “I’m Mrs. Davidson. Can I help you find something today?”
    “Yes. We need all the books you’ve got on driving,” Carole said.
    “Driving?” Mrs. Davidson blinked. “Aren’t you a little young to be studying for your licenses?”
    “Oh, no,” Lisa laughed. “Not car driving. We mean horse driving. Like carriages and wagons and things like that.”
    “Oh.” Mrs. Davidson chuckled. “I see. You mean team driving. Let me see. I believe I shelved a book on team driving just the other day.”
    She stuck a pencil behind one ear and bustled out from behind the counter. “If I remember, it’s right over here.” She walked quickly to an area of the stacks Carole had never been in before, reached up to the topshelf, and pulled down a thick red book titled
Customs and Carriages
.
    “Great,” said Carole, thumbing through the book. “Are there any more?”
    “Give me a few minutes,” said Mrs. Davidson, “and I’ll see what I can find.”
    Carole and Lisa moved the books Carole had gathered to a table while Mrs. Davidson fluttered from shelf to shelf, adding volumes to their collection.
    “Okay,” Mrs. Davidson said a few minutes later, when the tabletop was covered with books. “I think that’s it.”
    “Gosh,” said Lisa, counting quickly. “That’s forty-three books on driving.”
    “Is that enough?” asked Mrs. Davidson.
    “I think so,” laughed Carole. “Thank you so much, Mrs. Davidson. We could never have found that many books by ourselves.”
    “My pleasure,” Mrs. Davidson said cheerily as she went back to the return desk. “I never mind helping young readers with a project.”
    “Wow.” Lisa eyed the huge selection of books. “Where should we start?”
    Carole frowned. “Why don’t we go through these and reshelve the ones that won’t be much help—you know, the ones that are too babyish or too technical?”
    “Good idea,” said Lisa. “I’ll sift through the ones at this end of the table. You take the ones down there.”
    Carole sat down and opened the first book. The title was perfect—
Driving Through History
—but she realized after she’d thumbed through the first few pages that it was a fictional story about a pair of guys in a magical car that travels through time. Carole checked to make sure the guys hadn’t driven near any ancient chariots, then rose to her feet. “This one looks interesting, but it’s not going to help us with our report. I think I’ll reshelve it.”
    “Okay,” said Lisa. “I’ll stay here and go through these.”
    Carole found the empty spot where the book belonged. It was on a shelf just above the floor. She got down on her hands and knees to shove the book into the right slot and found herself peeping through to the other side of the stack. Standing on a stool in the next aisle were a pair of small red sneakers, which were under a small pair of blue jeans, which were apparently attached to a little kid. It seemed to Carole as if the child was trying to hide in the dingiest corner of the library. Quietly she reshelved the book and leaned forward to peek around the stack.
    A little girl stood there. She wore a red wool sweater along with her jeans and had curly hair, almost as blond as Mrs. Davidson’s. Though she was standing asif she wanted to be invisible, in her arms she clutched one of Carole’s all-time favorite books,
Misty of Chincoteague
by Marguerite Henry.
    “Hi,” said Carole, barely above a whisper. “That’s a great book, isn’t it?”
    The little girl nodded.
    “I just adore it. Have you gotten to the race parts yet?”
    “I don’t know.” The little girl shrugged. “I can only look at the pictures.”
    Carole frowned. “How come?”
    “Because I can’t read yet.”
    “Oh,” said Carole. “I see.” She leaned against the bookshelf with a dreamy