Sunday, January 3, 2010

The Power of Reading: Books About Libraries and Librarians

University of Illinois Library and Information Science Doctoral candidate Minjii Chen created a list of U. S. children's books about libraries and librarians. See her list in the article, "The Power of Reading: Books About Libraries and Librarians".
  1. Dear Miss Breed (2005)
  2. Tomas and the Library Lady (1997)
  3. The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq (2005)
  4. Wild About Books (2004)
  5. Please Bury Me in the Library (2005)
  6. The Librarian Who Measured the Earth (1994)
  7. My Librarian is a Camel: How Books Are Brought to Children Around the World (2005)
  8. Richard Wright and the Library Card (1997)
  9. Library Lil (1997)
  10. The Librarian from the Black Lagoon (1997)
  11. Library Dragon (1994)
  12. Mike's House (1954)
This must be a challenge to librarians everywhere! I KNOW of at least one other book to add to the list, but first must go search for it in my personal collection. Harper-Collins gave me a "proof" copy at a library conference about 15 years ago... It was a picture book history of libraries by Jack Knowlton and illustrated by Harriett Barton, titled "Books and Libraries"(1991) and included an illustrated Melvil Dewey Decimal System in the front and back. I remember it so well because the last page was devoted to "Today: Your Neighborhood Library".

A big-time omission from the above list is "The Library" (1995) by Sarah Stewart and illustrated by David Small. The front cover is of a girl pulling a wagon full of books, with her head buried in a book, reading. I have a good supply of note cards and book marks with that image!

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