Plot Summary:A fire-lit ritual in the school. Children stand in line before a great furnace. They are burning books. The old headmaster is too weary to resist. Alexandria, an 11 year old girl, will not join in. She runs away from the furnace. The headmaster tries to protect her. He tells her a story, an impossible tale about a chimney sweep and the Library of Burned Books. Alexandria listens. But a Fire Warden is listening too.