In the beginning, it was fun.

John Schumacher, former school librarian and current Scholastic Ambassador for School Libraries had a cardboard cutout. How many people have a cardboard cutout? The reaction to the cutout’s debut at the American Library Association Annual Conference was enthusiastic:

Me and Diane Hess and @MrSchuReads !!! #schuvisits @Scholastic #alaac16 pic.twitter.com/7jvxhr9E3U

— Deimosa Webber-Bey (@dataquilter) June 26, 2016

Look who I ran into at #alaac16 #schuvisits @scholastic pic.twitter.com/GEJp3m1fOA

— Cathy Potter (@cppotter) June 26, 2016

Me and @MrSchuReads #schuvisits @Scholastic pic.twitter.com/UnlH3Nmb9Y

— Kathy M Burnette ; (@thebrainlair) June 25, 2016

Hoping to win #schuvisits from @Scholastic Looking good @MrSchuReads #alaac16 Forgot pic in 1st tweet. :/ pic.twitter.com/xD59qd2szH

— KarinLibrarian (@kperry) June 25, 2016

Then things started to change.

While taking my picture with Cardboard Schu at ALA, I could have sworn he whispered his catch phrase in my ear, but with a slightly ominous twist:

Happy reading . . . Travis.

I’d be lying if I said it didn’t freak me out.

But the moment I truly realized something strange was going on was when, this past Monday at Nerd Camp, I walked around a corner and all of a sudden . . .

. . . Cardboard Schu was RIGHT THERE, looking me in the eyes. It (he?) startled me and it felt, I don’t know, a little creepy.

But here’s the strangest part – I asked around and I couldn’t find anyone who knew how Cardboard Schu made it to Nerd Camp. I had an uneasy feeling.

Not long after, rumors began to surface about an “Emergency Backup Cardboard Schu”, locked away for safe keeping deep in the warehouses of Scholastic Inc. I wondered, “Why would an Emergency Backup Cardboard Schu be necessary? Are they concerned they might . . . lose control of the original Cardboard Schu??”

And then, yesterday, my worst fears were confirmed. Cardboard Schu became sentient. And started a Twitter account:

I like smelling books and I cannot lie.

— Cardboard Schu (@CardboardSchu) July 13, 2016

*Shudder*

Real Schu was clearly disturbed too. You could all but hear the nervous laugh that accompanied this reply tweet:

. @CardboardSchu Ummmm. Who taught you how to tweet at #nErDcampMI?

— John Schu (@MrSchuReads) July 13, 2016

It was clear that Cardboard Schu was made in the image of Real Schu . . .

@100scopenotes pic.twitter.com/oiGqL64kmM

— Cardboard Schu (@CardboardSchu) July 13, 2016

@100scopenotes @MrSchuReads His sense of style. #PlaidLife

— Cardboard Schu (@CardboardSchu) July 13, 2016

. . . but some things clearly got fuzzy in the replication process:

@100scopenotes That's a great questions. Who is your favorite author?

— Cardboard Schu (@CardboardSchu) July 13, 2016

I went to bed shaken, with one last question on my mind: where will this end?

And then, as if answering my nightmare, I woke up to this message . . .

The mystery continues.