Most of the books in the Dog Library had strong smells. That’s how dogs could read and understand them. But after a lot of dogs sniffed the same book, it lost most of its smells. For example, hot sauce started to smell like applesauce.
Margaret the librarian always moved the used books into the Faded Smells Room. She also put the puppies and senior dogs in there.
The puppies
When puppies were in the library they usually drove the other dogs crazy. They raced around the room barking at all the books, especially books with smells they liked, such as roasted chicken or rotting banana peel.
But in the Faded Smells Room, where the books were dull, the puppies were quieter and took frequent naps. They didn’t care about sniffing any of the used books, not unless there are some good smells left.
For example, one book smelled like a dirty sock. It used to smell like a whole pile of dirty socks, but too many dogs sniffed the book and only the smell of one sock was left.
The senior dogs
The Faded Smells Room was also a good place for senior dogs. They didn’t like being startled by strong smells, such as orange soda or hot peppers. The dogs felt much safer with faded smells because they didn’t wake them up from long naps.
The senior dogs also liked to sniff the same books several times. There were less surprises that way.
