Librarian's Special

 

I don't get to work at the library much, but when I do I love it. Since I'm so into children's books (yeah, I barely think about anything else) the picture books and junior reading are my sections. I try to keep books on display that the kids are into. I'm always happy to see when things I put on display have been checked out and take note which books aren't.

Every week I put up a new themed display in the picture book area. Sometimes it's tricky. The library is small and the books on the shelf don't always jump out at me in categories. I try to order in books from the library system, 28 libraries in all, but that takes planning and organization and if you've read my blog much you know that I am organizationally challenged. But, I usually manage to pull things together.

With the start of the Summer Reading Program this week I decided to go with the display I like to call "the librarian's special", all books about reading and the library. Here's the books I found on the shelves:

OUR LIBRARY by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Maggie Smith (Clarion Books, 2008) is about a raccoon and his friends going to great lengths to save their library. Quite inspirational as our library is in need of some saving, the building is falling apart.

CHARLIE COOK'S FAVORITE BOOK by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Alex Scheffler (Dial BFYR 2006) is a circular story. Each character in the book is reading about the next and it begins and ends with Charlie Cook. A fun read and my head librarian's favorite.

I.Q. GOES TO THE LIBRARY by Mary Ann Fraser (Walker & Co. 2003) is about a school mouse's first trips to the library and quest to get his own library card.

LIBRARY LION by Michelle Knudsen, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes (Candlewick Press 2006) has a sweet lion who loves the library and helps out, but it is a story about following the rules, and knowing when to break them. It's one of my favorite books.

AMELIA BEDELIA, BOOKWORM by Herman Parish, pictures by Lynn Sweat (Greenwillow 2003) is literal word fun with Amelia at the library.

RICHARD WRIGHT AND THE LIBRARY CARD by William Miller, illustrated by Gregory Christie (Lee & Low Books 1997) is based on a scene from Richard Wright's autobiography. Based on a scene from Wright's autobiography, Black boy, in which the seventeen-year-old African-American borrows a white man's library card and devours every book as a ticket to freedom. This one we recently got into the library and is on my to read list.

CLARENCE THE COPY CAT by Patricia Lakin, illustrated by John Manders (Doubleday BFYR 2002) is a fun story about a cat who isn't welcome anywhere until he finds the library but doesn't want to hurt mice--and it's his job to keep them out!

BEVERLY BILLINGSLY BORROWS A BOOK by Alexander Stadler (Silver Whistle/Harcourt 2002) Beverly's book is overdue, and she is afraid she's going to get into big trouble--maybe even go to jail!

READING MAKES YOU FEEL GOOD by Todd Parr (Little Brown 2005) is of course about reading. The illustrations are a big hit with the young ones.

I TOOK MY FROG TO THE LIBRARY by Eric A. Kimmel, illustrated by Blanche Sims (Viking 1990) shows how disastrous it can be to bring your pet to the library. And when I say disastrous I mean funny, if it's not at my library, of course.

So that's my display for the week. I wanted to add THE LIBRARY DRAGON by Carmen Agra Deedy, illustrated by Michael P. White (Peachtree 1994), but it was checked out!

Like I said, the library is small as is my town so check out rates aren't as high as in a big city, but I'm looking forward to seeing what gets checked out this week.

If you have any favorite books about reading or the library I'd love to hear about them!