Artifacts 'R' Awesome: Library Mouse: A Museum Adventure by Daniel Kirk

Late one night Sarah dropped in and asked, "What are you doing, Sam? Writing a new book?"

Sam said, "I'm just making some notes and sketching in my journal."

Sarah said, "You know, Sam, there's a place next door that has the kind of stuff you are looking for in these books. I think they call it ... a museum. We should go!"

And with Sarah's urging, Sam the Library Mouse and his best friend are off on another exploration. Sam is already the mouse master of library research, but Sarah is right--there is yet another place to gather information, a place which makes knowledge available without books--in exhibits of art and artifacts and animals and a myriad of things.

Still, Sam can't go exploring without his trusty journal, and over her protests he finally persuades Sarah to take along her own notebook:

"An explorer can't explore if she's writing in a journal! Explorers want adventure!" Sarah exclaimed.

But when faced with ancient statues and the skeleton of a prehistoric saber-toothed tiger, Egyptian mummies, and famous paintings (George Mousington Crossing the Delaware), Sarah finds that there is plenty for her to sketch in her journal as well. And after a adventurous but scary moment, Sarah learns that even cats can be artists as well, and the the cat artist and Sarah share their sketches with each other.

The two mouse explorers stay as long as they can in the museum, and when they return home to the library, they find their notebooks filled with notes and sketches to inspire further research.

Daniel Kirk's latest in this series, the just-published Library Mouse: A Museum Adventure (Abrams, 2012) continues the adventures of his popular bibliophile Sam the Library Mouse, in a sequel that is a great readaloud story before an up-and-coming museum field trip.

Other books in this series are Library Mouse, Library Mouse: A Friend's Tale, and Library Mouse: A World to Explore.

Sam's Story: Library Mouse: A Friend's Tale by Daniel Kirk

Sam was a library mouse who lived in a little hole in the wall behind the children's reference books. Sam loved to read and he loved to write, too. Everyone loved his little books, but Sam was very shy, and no one at the library had ever met him.

Sam, the book-writing mouse first introduced in Daniel Kirk's Library Mouse, (reviewed here just in time for American Library Week on November 7, 2008) is back in his second adventure just in time for Children's Book Week. In this story a boy named Tom finds himself sadly without a partner in the library's Book Week project. Each team of two children are to collaborate, one writing the story and the other creating the illustrations, but the class doesn't come out even, and Tom is left without a friend to work with.

Although Mrs. F., the librarian, offers to partner with him, Tom has another idea which he hopes will work. A big fan of Sam's hand-crafted mini-mouse sagas, Tom's observant detective work leads him to believe that the library's mystery author must be the mouse who left his author's notebook and footprints on the circulation desk, and he soon discovers the entrance to Sam's hole under the reference shelf. Hopefully, Tom secretly slips his carefully written story, "The Shy One," into the opening in the hope that Sam will agree to be his collaborator.

Tom worries that Sam will be too fearful of revealing his identity to take on the job of teaming up with him on the book, but Sam, as always, rises to the creative challenge, and his clever but enigmatic illustrations keep his full identity a mystery.

"So tell us," said Mrs. F., "just who is this Sam who writes so many books? I just have to ask, 'Is it you?'"

"Oh, no," said Tom. "I just wrote the story. Sam is real, but he likes his privacy, so that's all I am going to say. A friend knows how to keep a secret."

Daniel Kirk's new Library Mouse: A Friend's Tale, with its equally engaging illustrations, is a story which emphasizes both the fun of making original stories and illustrations and the power of teamwork in creating literature. Kirk cleverly includes his tribute to many of the authors and illustrators who make children's literature what it is by placing popular books--Frindle, Little Bear, Amber Brown Is Not a Crayon, The Doll People, Goodnight, Moon, Henry and Mudge, and Click Clack Moo, Cows That Type, to name a few--in the background as the story develops, a device which kids will love to point out as they read.

Library Mouse: A Friend's Tale, is an appealing sequel and, like its predecessor, a really fun way to introduce a classroom unit on writing, illustrating, and book production in general. Sam the Library Mouse looks like he has a long career ahead of him--one of teamwork with young writers and artists.

Pride of the Library: The Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen

Do you gratefully inhale the heady smell of books when you enter a library? Do you have fond memories of your favorite children's librarian reading Andy and the Lion to your story circle during Book Week? If you do, you'll probably love Michelle Knudsen's Library Lion!

When a lion mysteriously turns up in the local library, there's a bit of consternation on the part of stuffy Circulation Assistant, Mr. McBee, who obviously thinks of himself as The Enforcer. Head Librarian Miss Merriwether, herself no slouch at shushing, has to point out that the lion is quiet and very attentive at story time and that she is loath to evict him as long as he follows the rules. Although the lion does exercise his right to roar his displeasure at the too-early termination of story time, he is so contrite that Merriwether gives him a second chance.

The lion soon makes himself indispensable, dusting shelves with his tail tuft, licking the envelopes for overdue notices, and allowing children to climb upon his back to reach high shelves. He maintains his vow of silence perfectly until poor Miss Merriwether falls and breaks her arm. Then the lion, apparently unable to dial 911, roars loudly for help. Crestfallen to have violated the rule, the lion disappears from the library.

Soon the children, Miss Merriwether, and even that stickler-for-silence Mr. McBee find that the library is not the same without its mascot, and the lion is welcomed back with open arms. The Library Lion has found his home.

Kevin Hawkes' nostalgic pencil and acrylic illustrations are soft and sweet, just a bit reminiscent of James Daugherty's, with a lion so strong but eager to please that you long to slide into the book and nestle against him in that warm story circle.