When all the penguins were in, Lenora pushed away from the island. She was getting rather good with the oars. “I’ll take you south,” she said to her passengers, “though I can’t stay long. I’m in a rush to ascend Mount Everest, but I’ve got to find the thing first.”

“Oh, that’s nothing,” honked one of the penguins. “Penguins know all about the mountains of Earth. It’s the first thing we learn in school.” He waddled up to the prow and gestured with one wing. “Onward!”

Lenora heaved at the oars and the rowboat set off. Her rowing was definitely improving. Now her vessel surged through the waves as though its pilot had been born for the sea. Frozen tundra went by to starboard and she steered hard to the right, squeezing between Alaska and Russia and sliding over the floating letters of the BERING STRAIT. The air got warmer as she passed Japan, from which thousands of cherry blossoms blew into the sea, and near which a million jellyfish glowed in the waters. Navigating the many twisty passages of the South China Sea was tricky, but she managed.

And then she saw it. Off to the right, on the coast of Thailand:

KRUNGTHEPMAHANAKHON AMONRATTANAKOSIN MAHINTHARAYUTTHAYA MAHADILOKPHOP NOPPHARATRATCHATHANIBURIROM UDOMRATCHANIWETMAHASATHAN AMONPHIMANAWATANSATHIT SAKKATHATTIYAWITSANUKAMPRASIT

The name of the city was so long they’d had to arrange the letters in a gigantic spiral. Krungthepmahanakhon Amonrattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilokphop Noppharatratchathaniburirom Udomratchaniwetmahasathan Amonphimanawatansathit Sakkathattiyawitsanukamprasit was a much longer name than Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. Lenora had almost made a grave error. She got out her notebook and wrote down the longer name, then added: Never make assumptions. Verify the facts.

Soon they were back in the open ocean.

“There! There!” squawked the penguins, pointing north. And there was no missing it—across India and Nepal rose the tallest mountain around.

“Thank you,” said Lenora with delight. She struck out south until they reached the shores of Antarctica. With all the rowing she’d been doing, she hardly felt the cold. “Will you be all right from here?”

“Oh yes, oh yes, thank you, librarian!” the penguins cried, flopping into the water with joy. “You have saved us! We name you our Honorary Queen!”

“Why, I’m so flattered,” said Lenora, blushing. She shivered. “I’ll visit again, in warmer clothes!” She rowed away as the penguins cheered.

She docked at India and set off for Mount Everest. When she reached it at last, it certainly looked like the highest point around—it would have required one Malachi standing on another’s shoulders just to place a book upon the peak. But Lenora, who loved climbing trees or anything else she could find, thought nothing of clambering upward until she reached the very top. There, she stood on tiptoe, reaching up for a nearby railing that was rotating by, tantalizingly close—but she simply couldn’t get hold of it. The tips of her fingers almost brushed the railing, but not quite.