It's all a result of a small fire in a reptile cage.

The fire started overnight and was quickly extinguished by an automatic sprinkler system. But school principal Lynn Rasmussen told KOMO 4 News "The sprinkler system pumps out 100 gallons a minute. And it just kept on going and going and going."

The two bearded dragons, Kevin and Ishtar are just fine. The only damage a few drops of molten plastic on Ishtar's tail.

It's the books that got clobbered, no one wants to throw them away.

The damaged books are identified by scanner, removed from the library inventory and then tossed. A former school librarian Jan Johnson called it every librarian's, every parent's, worst nightmare "They look at the books and say... gee that was my favorite book. We can't throw that one away. Can't we save that one, because they remember all the stories."

Jan and others hope to save at least some of the books. A fan pushed air through the leaves of books that are just damp. If they dry overnight, maybe, just maybe, they'll be back on the library shelf. If they don't dry the spines of the books will be destroyed, the leaves will buckle and mold will grow.

Fourth grader Charlotte Heesacker told KOMO 4 news "That really doesn't make me feel good. It makes me feel real sad that this had to happen."

Charlotte loves stories about animals, especially horses. And fantasy books with drawings. She knows most are gone: "We can't change the past, so we are just going to have to live with this. And get more books. We could have bake sales, sell cookies, brownies, maybe some cakes."

The school says it make take donations to restock the library, insurance won't cover all the loses.