Smurfs/Bookworm Smurf

Bookworm Smurf
Season 6, Episode 26A
Airdate	November 8, 1986
Story by	Therese Naugle
Directed by
← 6x25B Clumsy's Cloud	6x26B → Farmer's Genie
Smurfs — Season Six

Bookworm Smurf is part of the 26th episode of the second season of Smurfs, and the one hundred seventy-first episode overall.

Sassette wants to learn to read, but when she grows frustrated with Brainy's lessons, she accidentally casts a spell to make books go away forever. This could have grave effects on whether Papa Smurf is able to cure Baby Smurf of a rash that could kill him if not quickly cured.

Voices:

Plot Overview

Papa Smurf is reading to the Smurflings, and it's Sassette's favorite story. When Sassette wants to hear the story again and tells him he likes the drama and emotion he puts into his telling of the story, Papa Smurf gently tells her he has some work to do, but maybe someday she'll be able to read the story herself. Meantime, Brainy, wanting to get rid of his older versions of "Quotations Of Brainy Smurf," has a book sale, but the books aren't exactly hot sellers, to say the least.

Brainy suggests that Sassette might enjoy one of the books but is told she hasn't yet learned to read, which gives him an idea – which, of course, is never a good idea. That is, Brainy decides to take it upon himself to give reading lessons to Sassette ... using first a pull down chart to teach her the alphabet, using self-serving attributes about himself to teach the letters. When Sassette is bored and wants to go swimming, Brainy becomes more determined to find use for his books, and decides to have her try to read the words in his book.

Meanwhile, Harmony and Grouchy bring a sickly looking Baby Smurf to Papa Smurf's lab, where Papa realizes that Baby has come down with a rash he has never seen before. Papa pores through his books to try to find a cure for the rash, but is unable to find anything with his research.

Back at Brainy's house, Sassette is growing more frustrated and so is Brainy, until Clumsy tells Brainy that Puppy has run off with one of his books. Brainy and Clumsy go after Puppy, who has buried the book in the forest, while Sassette complains to Papa Smurf about Brainy's reading "lessons." Papa Smurf sympathizes with Sassette and suggests she keep trying, but she sees that Baby is very sick and Papa Smurf – without an answer in his own books for a cure for Baby's rash – tells her he has to visit Homnibus to see if he has a book that may have a cure.

Sassette stays behind and tries reading Papa Smurf's spell books ... until one magic book suddenly floats in the air and prints out some words: "If these words are read by you, whatever you say next will come true." Sassette declares she never wants to see another book again ...

... and her wish comes true, except all of the books in Papa Smurf's lab disappear.

"Uh, oh!" Sassette declares, realizing her words may have consequences she didn't expect.

Which is indeed what happens. Brainy and Clumsy shocked when his now-rescued "Quotations ..." book suddenly disappears. Handy is trying to do maintenance to the windmill, but when his repair manual disappears, he doesn't know what to do and realizes that Farmer won't be able to grind wheat into flour. Greedy doesn't have his cookbooks and only is able to serve gruel, which no Smurf would eat even if their lives depended on it. And Harmony's already non-harmonious music sounds dreadfully awful, to put it nicely.

At Homnibus' castle, Papa Smurf explains the illness to him, and sure enough Homnibus has just the book he needs and gives it to him. And then all those books, including the spell book, disappear.

When Papa Smurf returns, he is immediately met by the other Smurfs, who want to know what's going on with the books. He's also met by Grouchy, who is trying to comfort Baby Smurf, who is growing even more pale and even more sick.

Sassette, realizing that Baby Smurf may only have a few hours to live if he isn't cured right now, breaks down in tears, confessing that she had made a spell to make books disappear and that her intent was only to get rid of Brainy's books. Brainy is very angry, but Papa Smurf stops Brainy mid-sentence, sternly telling him that he is just as responsible for what happened and that reading is supposed to be fun, not work.

Papa Smurf then turns to Sassette and asks her to come with him to the Well Of Knowledge for a solution. At the Well Of Knowledge, they are informed that only the one who made the books disappear – Sassette – can make the request for books to reappear. Sassette does, and upon being told that only something of great value will convince the Well that the request is pure, she breaks down in tears again. Sure enough, one of her teardrops, upon falling into the water, makes all the books re-appear, including Homnibus' medical remedies book.

Back at the Smurf Village, Papa Smurf takes less than an hour to prepare the remedy for Baby's illness ... and sure enough, Baby is instantly restored to full health. All the other Smurfs have their books returned, too, including Handy's repair manual, Greedy's cookbook and Harmony's musical scores ... and yes, even Brain's "Quotation ..." books.

That evening, Papa Smurf reads a bedtime story to the Smurflings, but falls asleep. This time, Sassette is able to pick up where Papa Smurf left off ... and Slouchy, Snappy and Nat are all very impressed with how well she is reading.