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Mrs. Hemlock was a librarian unlike any other. While most librarians cherished silence, Mrs. Hemlock, a tiny, bespectacled owl, adored laughter. Her library, the "Giggle and Glee Book Nook," was supposed to echo with happy sounds, but lately, it was eerily quiet. The children, usually a boisterous bunch, were too busy staring at their glowing screens.

"Oh dear," Mrs. Hemlock hooted sadly, polishing a dusty joke book. "Where has all the joyful noise gone? A library without laughter is like a tea party without biscuits!"

She tried everything to encourage merriment. She hid whoopee cushions under story-time pillows. She replaced serious historical texts with books that spontaneously told knock-knock jokes. Nothing worked. The children simply scrolled and swiped.

One afternoon, Oscar the grumpy octopus, a frequent (and very silent) reader of maritime law, noticed Mrs. Hemlock's distress.

"Madam," Oscar rumbled, his voice like rocks tumbling in a bucket. "Perhaps your methods are too… subtle."

Mrs. Hemlock looked at him. "Subtle? I just put glitter in the dictionary!"

Oscar sighed, then pointed one of his tentacles at a large, brightly colored book on the highest shelf. It was titled: "The Ultimate Compendium of Silly Animal Noises (With Interactive Sounds!)"

"That book," Oscar explained, "is broken. It only makes the sound of a very loud, very flat tuba every time someone touches it. The children avoid it."

Mrs. Hemlock had forgotten all about the "Broken Tuba Book." She carefully took it down. "A flat tuba, you say? Hmm."

She opened the book. WHOOMP! A loud, flat tuba sound echoed through the quiet library. The children looked up from their screens, startled. One little fox cub giggled. Then another. Soon, the entire library was filled with children trying to make the tuba book whoomp again, laughing at the silly sound.

Mrs. Hemlock watched, a wide smile spreading across her feathery face. She realized the best way to encourage laughter wasn't always through sophisticated jokes or hidden gags, but sometimes, simply through a big, unexpected, silly noise. She decided to keep the "Broken Tuba Book" right on the front desk.