A Friend In Deed: Dear Librarian by Lydia Sigwarth

MAY I TELL YOU A STORY? IT HAPPENED WHEN I WAS FIVE YEARS OLD.

MY MOM AND DAD AND FIVE BIG SISTERS AND ONE LITTLE BROTHER ALL HAD TO LEAVE COLORADO AND MOVE TO IOWA, WHERE GRANDMA LIVED.

Dad finds a job, but there was not enough room for all of them at anyone's house. At Grandma's house, there was a park but no friends. There was not enough room for all of them to stay at Aunt Lydia's house, already full of things that break, or in Aunt Lydia's cozy but tiny basement, three to a sofa and three to the bed.

NOWHERE WAS HOME FOR ME.

But one day Mom takes them to a new place.

THE LIBRARY.

There was a big sunny window with a puppet stage there and so many books. There were toys and cozy pillows for reading alone. But just up those stairs, there is a big round desk, which becomes her favorite place to be with a friend called the Librarian, someone who, with a hug, finds the perfect book about princesses and reads it to her in the special reading spot on the floor.

In these days a library with a librarian whose job is to find and read a special story for a lonely child can become a home big enough for everyone, in Lydia Sigwarth's gentle story of displaced people with a place and a space beautifully realized in the intimate artwork of Romina Galotta, for everyone, in her Dear Librarian (Farrar, Strous and Giroux, 2021).

Yes, there may be a perfect book for a particular child in a library, but there is also a warm welcoming public place for everyone, each with his or her own need for a sunny, friendly spot to be alone or together. Publishers Weekly says, "A gentle ode to the effect one person can have on another, and what a library can offer a community."

Books By Burro!Waiting for the Biblioburro by Monica Brown

ON A HILL BEHIND A TREE THERE IS A HOUSE. IN THAT HOUSE THERE IS A LITTLE GIRL NAMED ANA.

Every day Ana gets up and helps her family with the chores--bathing her baby brother, feeding the goats and collecting the eggs the hens have laid to sell in the village market. But all the while Ana wishes she were back in her cool house reading her libro, her book. She only has one, given to her by her teacher in the village school, the school that is now closed. Ana loves her book and reads it to her brother, but she wishes she could have a new one to read.

But then one day she hears the tacatac of hooves coming up the hill. Riding a burro is a man leading two more, equipped, not with saddles, but with bookshelves filled with libros. The man says he is a bibliotecaro, a librarian, bringing books to the children in the area. He reads a cuento, a story, to her and her little brother, and both of them get to choose some books from the biblioburros, Alfa and Beto

SO MANY CUENTOS!

SOMEONE SHOULD WRITE A BOOK ABOUT YOUR BURROS," SHE TELLS THE LIBRARIAN.

"WHY DON'T YOU?" HE ASKED.

Ana reads all her books and then reads them all again and again. She teaches her little brother his alfabetos, too. And when she's done, she gets out her paper and colored pencils and writes her own book of stories. But when will the biblioburros come back?

Ana begins to believe they are not ever coming, but then....

THE BIBLIOBURRO MAN IS BACK!

And he is happy to read Ana's story to all the children, in Monica Brown's tribute to Colombia's biblioburro librarian, Luis Soriano Bohorquez, in Waiting for the Biblioburro (Tricycle Press). Youngsters used to frequent forays to their public libraries and bookstores will be amazed to learn that a donkey loaded with books can be a library and will be intrigued with the idea of choosing books off the back of donkeys. This book is perfect for Library Week observances, and kids will be surprised to learn of checking out books from boats on rivers and harbors and of books for kids brought on the backs of camels. This is also a good time to learn about libraries on horseback or borne by mules and wagons here in the last century and still delivered by bookmobiles in the countryside or in big city neighborhoods.

Share this one along with Heather Hensen's and David Small's That Book Woman and Maggie Ruurs' My Librarian is a Camel: How Books Are Brought to Children Around the World.

Borrow the Book: Tomas and the Library Lady by Pat Mora

It was midnight. The light of the moon followed the tired old car. Tomas missed his own bed in his own house in Texas.

Tomas and his family were farm workers who picked fruits and vegetables for Texas farmers in the winter and for Iowa farmers in the summer. During the day Tomas and his brother bring water to the workers, and when it is very hot, his grandfather sits with him and his brother in the shade of a tree and tells them stories. Tomas know them all, every word of them.

One day Papa' Grande said, "Tomas, you know all of my stories. There are many more in the library. You are big enough to go by yourself. Then you can teach us new stories!"

So one morning Tomas found himself peering through the glass of the front door of the town library.

It was HUGE!

There were so MANY books! But a kind librarian offered him a cool drink of water and asked him what kind of books he would like to read.

"TIGERS AND DINOSAURS!" Tomas said.

Tomas read and read for hours.

"Tomas?' said the librarian softly. The library was empty. the sun was setting. "Would you like to borrow two books?"

The kind librarian checked them out to herself and gave them to Tomas to take back with him, and all summer Tomas read books from the library. Sometimes he taught Spanish to the librarian and sometimes she showed him books on new subjects he had never thought of. Tomas also read the new stories to Enrique, Papa' Grande' and his parents. And when it was time to return to Texas, Tomas came to say goodbye to the librarian. She gave him the gift of a book of his own.

Tomas Rivera never stopped reading, and one day he became a chancellor of the University of California in Riverside, as told in Pat Mora's Tomas and the Library Lady (Random House). Moving and inspiring, this story for middle elementary readers tells the true story of the enrichment that reading and libraries can make in a life of a child and in the life of the community. Young elementary readers will identify with Tomas and find this simple story encouraging them to enter a library and let it open up the world to them. Of Raul Colon's illustrations, Kirkus Reviews says "Colon's dreamy illustrations capture the brief friendship and its life-altering effects in soft earth tones, using round sculptured shapes that often depict the boy right in the middle of whatever story realm he's entered."

Rapping in the Stacks! Rappy Goes to the Library by Dan Gutman

I'M RAPPY THE RAPTOR
AND I'D LIKE TO SAY
I MAY NOT TALK
IN THE USUAL WAY!

It's field trip time, and Mrs. Hoopenlooper (a huge and terrifying creature, according to Rappy) is prepping her rowdy class for a visit to the library. She especially warns Rappy, who is prone to break into an impromptu rap at odd times, that she expects him to keep quiet. It's a tall order, but Rappy wants to please Mrs. H. However, when he bursts into a totally, er, fictionalized rap version of their bus trip, Mrs. Higgenlooper has to quash his recital. Okay...

THERE WAS NO TRAIN OR JET OR FERRY.

WE JUST WENT TO... THE LIBRARY!

Hoopenlooper calls for nothing but "inside voices," and Mrs. Darian the Librarian takes over, guiding them through the collection and to the desk to get their very own library cards.

OH, SO HAPPY!

AND ON THE FRONT...
MY NAME--RAPPY!

But next comes the many-floor tour, which Rappy's class finds quite a snore. But Rappy feels sorry for Darian the Librarian, whose act is clearly bombing. She's losing her audience fast. Can Rappy come up with a rap to save the act and the field trip?

With author Dan Gutman coming up with the dialog, Rappy's soon rockin' the stacks, in Gutman's latest I-Can-Read Level 2 title, Rappy Goes to the Library (I Can Read Level 2) (Harper, 2017). Gutman, the best-selling creator of the My Weird School series, is right at home in the classroom scene, and gives Rappy a chance to rhyme "scary" with "little house on the prairie," to become the book guy of the year. Other Rappy the Raptor stories for the grades 1 and 2  readers are Rappy the Raptor, Rappy Goes to the Supermarket (I Can Read Level 2), and Rappy Goes to School.

Turning the Page: The Return of the Library Dragon by Carmen Agra Deedy

SCHOOL LIBRARY TIMES

"Time has come to turn the page" says Miss Lotty, the beloved librarian of Sunrise School. The students had hoped that she would shelve plans for retirement, but Miss Lotty says her departure is long overdue.

Happily the librarian promises to remain in circulation and renew old friends. When asked to recall her fondest memories as a librarian, she replied, Dewey-eyed, "Over twenty years ago, a little footnote of a girl named Molly Brickmeyer showed me how wrong I was to keep children from their books."

It's true. Sweet Miss Lotty, nee Ms. Lotta Scales, was once a real Library Dragon, until she shed her draconian operating system (along with her scales) and devoted her fiery fielty to her treasure trove to sharing it with the kids of Sunrise Elementary. But now the Sunrise kids are distraught.

"If you leave, "who will read to the little kids?" pleaded Milo, "or dress up in goofy costumes for Library Week?"

"Why, the new librarian will do all that--and more" Miss Lotty reassured him.

Sunrise's legendary "library goddess" is really ready for retirement. That is, until she shows up for her last day at work, sees an ominous sign on the door (PROGRESS IN PROGRESS), and finds her library lair looted of ALL of its treasured tomes, replaced by a winking, blinking, beeping bunch of devices, presided over by the IT guy, Mike Krochip, now in charge of Sunrise Library ver.2, The Cybary!

"It's a brave new world," beamed Mike Krochip. "Check out the Book-Be-Gone 500. It will Kindle your Fire!" Mike tells Miss Lotty.

Suddenly Miss Lotty feels the fire of ire growing inside her, filling her with hot rage. A little puff of steam passes her lips as she blasts, "That's Lotta Scales to you, Mister!" The Library Dragon, claws, scales, tail, and all, stands in her precious library in its brand-new "improved" edition and takes the opportunity to fire Mike Krochip and sear his trove of whiteboards, printers, tablets, and e-readers.

"I will eat every last byte before I'll let them take my library." roars Lotta Scales.

Will Sunrise Elementary return to its bygone book era, or will it become merely a download depot for tablet devices? Is there to be no cyber compromise at Sunrise?

Almost twenty years after their first book, The Library Dragon, became beloved of bibliophiles, Carmen Agra Deedy and Michael White have re-Friended in their cyber- friendly sequel, Return of the Library Dragon (Peachtree, 2012), with their portrayal of a revised Sunrise School Library in the hands of its savior, the now degreed and certified "Media-Library-Cyber-Book Specialist," Molly Brickmeyer herself, who promises that as the new library goddess of Sunrise, hers will be a place for all formats, but a place where kids can still "unplug" if they wish and read those treasured books.

Like its predecessor, this sequel comes with a full set of apps in the form of punny wordplay, from the text itself to the sly touches among the illustrations. (Even the books in the library have spoofy titles.) Older readers will giggle at literary allusions to the McPad and the MePod and adults will delight in this comic view of the transition of the modern library. With its predecessor, this newest release makes fine fare for Library Week story time.

Kirkus Reviews hands out kudos for this update: "White's brightly colored, squashed and squiggly full-bleed illustrations match the tale for good goofiness. Pro-book and -library quotes on the endpapers and multiple punny book titles in the illustrations add an extra touch of fun."

In a bit of an ironic twist, perhaps at the bequest of Miss Lottie, Return of the Library Dragon ia NOT available in an e-book version, not even from Book-Be-Gone, er, Amazon.com!

Booking A Date: The Gentleman Bug by Julian Hector

Once there was a garden full of bugs.

One of them was a Gentleman Bug.

He taught a class and loved to read.

Now, there were other bugs who liked to make fun of the Gentleman Bug for reading all the time.

But he never seemed to mind.

But when a posh Lady Bug arrives in town, she is a social sensation, and the Gentleman Bug is totally smitten. Hoping to attract her eye, he shucks his outdoorsy Boy Guide-Master uniform for the dress of a dandy--cutaway coat, striped trousers, cravat, white vest, and top hat--and attends the elegant tea dance given in her ladyship's honor. But his hopes for the ball are unrequited:

When the Gentleman Bug entered, everyone was very impressed.

Everyone, that is, except the Lady Bug.

Despairing, the Gentleman Bug returns to his quiet but lonely life. Then, when a new library has its grand opening, he is drawn by his love for books to attend. And whom do you think is the new librarian? Yes, the Lady Bug, and this time she sees the Gentleman Bug for what he really is--a kindred soul. She approaches and offers an opportunity he cannot refuse.

"May I give you a tour of my library?"

Julian Hector's newest, The Gentleman Bug (Atheneum, 2010) creates an intriguing and inviting little Edwardian town, lovingly mapped in the endpapers, with cozy names such as Bugadilly Circus and with cleverly costumed insects of various types in charming little vignettes. With its gentle droll humor and low-key story of love lost and found at the library, it is a fine choice for Children's Book Week story time and any time a quiet but satisfying story is needed.