Libraries and Librarians

We’re post­ing this when it’s Nation­al Library Week, but we believe every week should be Library Week. If you love pub­lic, school, and spe­cial libraries as much as we do, add these books to your read­ing list and share them with your favorite readers.

As always, if you have a book you believe should be on this list, let us know in the com­ments or send us an e‑mail. We’ll most like­ly add it, with a thanks to you.

Bats in the Library  

Bats in the Library
writ­ten and illus­trat­ed by Bri­an Lies
Houghton Mif­flin Har­court, 2008

Join the free-for-all fun at the pub­lic library with these book-lov­ing bats! Shape shad­ows on walls, frol­ic in the water foun­tain, and roam the book-filled halls until it’s time for every­one, young and old, to set­tle down into the enchant­ment of sto­ry time. Bri­an Lies’ joy­ful crit­ters and their noc­tur­nal cel­e­bra­tion cast library vis­its in a new light.

 

Book Scavenger  

Book Scav­enger
writ­ten by Jen­nifer Cham­b­liss Bertman
Hen­ry Holt, 2015

The first of a three-book series joins Emi­ly and James as they try to crack Gar­ri­son Griswold’s online game to find books hid­den in cities all over the coun­try. They work hard to solve puz­zles and sort our clues. Gris­wold has been attacked and lies in a coma in the hos­pi­tal. Will they com­plete the game before and find the secret before Griswold’s assailant comes after them?

 

Dewey the Library Cat  

Dewey the Library Cat: a True Story
writ­ten by Vic­ki Myron and Bret Witter
Lit­tle, Brown, 2011

When a cat is aban­doned in a library book drop in the mid­dle of win­ter, he is adopt­ed by Spencer, Iowa’s pub­lic library, quick­ly becom­ing a favorite with library patrons. Dewey Read­more Books, a real cat and a true sto­ry, is the cat­a­lyst for a love­ly sto­ry about hope and friendship.

 

Down Cut Shin Creek  

Down Cut Shin Creek:
The Pack Horse Librar­i­ans of Kentucky

writ­ten by Kathi Appelt and Jeanne Can­nel­la Schmitzer
Harper­Collins, 2001

From 1935 to 1943, the WPA paid women to ride into the Appalachi­an hills of Ken­tucky to deliv­er books, mag­a­zines, pam­phlets, and oth­er read­ing mate­ri­als to peo­ple who lived in hard-to-reach loca­tions. The Pack Horse Library Project was inno­v­a­tive in help­ing to raise peo­ple up dur­ing the Great Depres­sion. The pho­tos in this book are evoca­tive of the era. Very inspiring.

 

Dreamers  

Dream­ers
writ­ten and illus­trat­ed by Yuyi Morales
Neal Porter Books, 2018
(con­tributed by Dr. Hei­di Hammond)

Shar­ing her own sto­ry about immi­grat­ing to this coun­try from Mex­i­co with her young son, we learn that they did not have an easy time of it. By vis­it­ing the pub­lic library, they learned the lan­guage of their new home. It is a book about becom­ing a cre­ative artist despite heart-break­ing chal­lenges. It is a beau­ti­ful book, illus­trat­ed with Ms. Morales’ charis­mat­ic vision. “We are two languages./ We are lucha./ We are resilience./ We are hope.”

 

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library  

Escape from Mr. Lemon­cel­lo’s Library
writ­ten by Chris Grabenstein
Ran­dom House, 2013

Kyle Kee­ley, who would rather play board games and video games than do any­thing else, is invit­ed to a sleep­over at his hometown’s brand new library, cre­at­ed by Lui­gi Lemon­cel­lo, the game inven­tor Kyle admires most. There are games galore and lots of fun but when morn­ing rolls around, the doors mys­te­ri­ous­ly stay locked. Kyle and the oth­er game-play­ers have to solve the games and puz­zles or they won’t get out. Lots of fun.

The Haunted Library

 

The Haunt­ed Library
writ­ten by Dori Hillestad But­ler, illus­trat­ed by Aurore Damant
Gros­set & Dun­lap, 2014 (a series)

There’s a ghost haunt­ing the library. Kaz is a boy ghost who is forced to move when the build­ing he and his fam­i­ly haunt is torn down. He meets a real girl, Claire, who can see ghosts. She lives above the library. Will the two of them be able to solve the mys­tery to fig­ure out who the library’s ghost is and what they’re doing there?

The Imaginary  

The Imag­i­nary
by A.F. Harrold
illus­trat­ed by Emi­ly Gravett
Blooms­bury, 2015

Aman­da Shuf­fle­up has an imag­i­nary friend, Rudger. Nobody else can see Rudger … until the evil Mr. Bunting knocks on the door. He wants to eat Rudger because that’s how he con­tin­ues to live. Aman­da dis­ap­pears and Rudger is alone. He must find her and he has to escape from Bunting. Soon, he finds him­self in a library filled with imag­in­ery friends who are try­ing not to fade out of exis­tence … or be eat­en. It’s a delight­ful­ly spooky and off­beat mid­dle grade novel.

 

Librarian of Basra  

Librar­i­an of Bas­ra: A True Sto­ry from Iraq
writ­ten and illus­trat­ed by Jean­nette Winter
HMH Books for Young Read­ers, 2005
(con­tributed by Ani­ta Dualeh)

Alia Muham­mad Bak­er is a librar­i­an in Bas­ra, Iraq. For many years, her library has been a meet­ing place for those who love books. Until war comes to Bas­ra. Alia fears that the library, along with thir­ty thou­sand books in its col­lec­tion, will be destroyed forever.

In a war-strick­en coun­try where civil­ians, espe­cial­ly women, have lit­tle pow­er, this true sto­ry about a librar­i­an’s strug­gle to save her com­mu­ni­ty’s price­less col­lec­tion of books reminds us all how, through­out the world, the love of lit­er­a­ture and the respect for knowl­edge know no boundaries

 

Libraries of Minnesota  

Libraries of Minnesota
text by Will Weaver, Pete Haut­man, Nan­cy Carl­son, Mar­sha Wil­son Chall, David LaRochelle, and Kao Kalia Yang
pho­tog­ra­phy by Doug Ohman
Min­neso­ta His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety Press, 2011

Does your state have a book hon­or­ing its many libraries? If it doesn’t, you’re miss­ing a treat. This book shares the sto­ries of a num­ber of children’s and YA book authors who fond­ly remem­ber their expe­ri­ences at the library, accom­pa­nied by a mas­ter­ful photographer’s images from those and many oth­er libraries.

 

The Library  

The Library
by Sarah Stewart
illus­trat­ed by David Small
Far­rar, Staus, Giroux, 1995
(con­tributed by Beth Raff)

Eliz­a­beth Brown loves to read more than she likes to do any­thing else. She col­lects books and soon they are mak­ing it hard to open the door to her house. So many books! What to do? Why, start a lend­ing library of course! A charm­ing book with beau­ti­ful illustrations.

 

Library Lil  

Library Lil
by Susanne Williams
illus­trat­ed by Steven Kellogg
Pen­guin, 2001

From the day she was born, Lil had a book in her hand…so it’s no sur­prise when she grows up to become a librar­i­an her­self. She even man­ages to turn the peo­ple of Chester­ville — who are couch pota­toes — into read­ers. But then Bust-’em-up Bill roars into town with his motor­cy­cle gang. Just men­tion read­ing to him and you’re toast. Has Lil final­ly met her match? This orig­i­nal tall tale by a real-life librar­i­an, com­bined with Steven Kel­log­g’s trade­mark humor, is great fun.

 

Library Lion  

Library Lion 
by Michelle Knudsen
illus­trat­ed by Kevin Hawkes
Can­dlewick Press, 2006

Miss Mer­ri­weath­er, the head librar­i­an, is very par­tic­u­lar about rules in the library. No run­ning allowed. And you must be qui­et. But when a lion comes to the library one day, no one is sure what to do. There aren’t any rules about lions in the library. This is an endear­ing book and a good read-aloud.

 

Lola at the Library

 

Lola at the Library
writ­ten by Anna McQuinn
illus­trat­ed by Ros­alind Beardshaw
Charles­bridge, 2006

A good sto­ry for intro­duc­ing young read­ers to the library. She and her mom­my go to the library every Tues­day, where Lola has dis­cov­ered friends. They share books, lis­ten to the librar­i­an tell them sto­ries, and engage in play. They don’t even have to be qui­et! No won­der Lola loves the library.

Lost in the Library: a Story of Patience and Fortitude

 

Lost in the Library: A Sto­ry of Patience and Fortitude
writ­ten by Josh Funk
illus­trat­ed by Ste­vie Lewis
Hen­ry Holt, 2018

Did you know that the lions in front of the New York Pub­lic Library are named Patience and For­ti­tude? Well, now you know. When Patience goes miss­ing, For­ti­tude does his best to find her. Where should he look? He begins at the Library …

The Man Who Loved Libraries

 

The Man Who Loved Libraries:
The Sto­ry of Andrew Carnegie

writ­ten by Andrew Larsen
illus­trat­ed by Kat­ty Maurey
OwlKids, 2017
(con­tributed by Beth Raff)

Andrew Carnegie arrived in Amer­i­ca in the 1840s, hav­ing emi­grat­ed from Scot­land. His work­ing class fam­i­ly raised him to believe in hard work and deter­mi­na­tion. He worked hard and invest­ed in telegraphs and rail­roads, even­tu­al­ly becom­ing the rich­est man in the world. He believed in phil­an­thropy, donat­ing more than 2,000 libraries around the world. He changed the land­scape of pub­lic libraries and how peo­ple think about books and reading.

Miss Moore Thought Otherwise

 

Miss Moore Thought Oth­er­wise: How Anne Car­roll Moore Cre­at­ed Libraries for Children
writ­ten by Jan Pinborough
illus­trat­ed by Deb­by Atwell
Houghton Mif­flin Har­court, 2013

There was a time when Amer­i­can chil­dren couldn’t bor­row library books. Many thought it was­n’t impor­tant for chil­dren to read. Luck­i­ly Miss Anne Car­roll Moore thought oth­er­wise! This is the true sto­ry of how Miss Moore cre­at­ed the first children’s room at the New York Pub­lic Library, a bright, warm room filled with art­work, win­dow seats, and most impor­tant of all, bor­row­ing priv­i­leges for the world’s best children’s books in many dif­fer­ent languages.

No. T.Rex in the Library

 

No T.Rex in the Library
writ­ten by Toni Buzzeo
illus­trat­ed by Sachiko Yoshikawa
Mar­garet K. McElder­ry Books, 2010

It’s a qui­et morn­ing in the library until a lit­tle girl roars out of con­trol! Tess resigns her­self to a time-out, but finds that she must be the one who has to main­tain order when T.Rex leaps from the pages of a book into real life. Will the library ever be the same?

Pete the Cat Checks Out the Library

 

Pete the Cat Checks Out the Library
writ­ten and illus­trat­ed by James Dean
Harper­Collins, 2018

When Pete the Cat vis­its the library for the first time, he takes a tour and reads some of the cool sto­ries. With­out even leav­ing the library, Pete goes on groovy adven­tures. All Pete needs is a lit­tle imag­i­na­tion — and of course, his library card!

Planting Stories

 

Plant­i­ng Stories: 
The Life of Librar­i­an and Sto­ry­teller Pura Belpré

writ­ten by Ani­ka Aldamuy Denise
illus­trat­ed by Pao­la Escobar
Harper­Collins, 2019

When she came to Amer­i­ca in 1921, Pura Bel­pré car­ried the cuen­tos folk­lóri­cos of her Puer­to Rican home­land. Find­ing a new home at the New York Pub­lic Library as a bilin­gual assis­tant, she turned her pop­u­lar retellings into libros and spread sto­ry seeds across the land. Today, these seeds have grown into a lush land­scape as gen­er­a­tions of chil­dren and sto­ry­tellers con­tin­ue to share her tales and cel­e­brate Pura’s legacy.

Properly Unhaunted Place

 

Prop­er­ly Unhaunt­ed Place
writ­ten by William Alexander
Mar­garet K. McElder­ry Books, 2017

Ingot is the only ghost-free town in the world. When Rosa moves to Ingot with her moth­er, she can’t fig­ure out why they’re there. Rosa’s moth­er is a ghost-appease­ment librar­i­an. Her job is to keep ghosts out of the library, but there are none. Or is that true? Rosa joins forces with Jasper, long-time Ingot res­i­dent, to solve the mys­tery and keep the angry spir­its from attack­ing the town and the library. It’s a fast-paced and humor­ous tale. A page-turn­er for mid­dle grade readers.

A sec­ond book, A Fes­ti­val of Ghosts, con­tin­ues the story.

Ron's Big Mission

 

Ron’s Big Mission
writ­ten by Rose Blue and Corinne J. Naden
illus­trat­ed by Don Tate
Dut­ton, 2009
(con­tributed by Dr. Hei­di Hammond)

Nine-year-old Ron loves going to the Lake City Pub­lic Library to look through all the books on air­planes and flight. Today, Ron is ready to take out books by him­self. But in the seg­re­gat­ed world of South Car­oli­na in the 1950s, Ron’s obtain­ing his own library card is not just a small rite of pas­sage — it is a young man’s first coura­geous mis­sion. Here is an inspir­ing sto­ry, based on Ron McNair’s life, of how a lit­tle boy, future sci­en­tist, and Chal­lenger astro­naut deseg­re­gat­ed his library through peace­ful resistance.

Schomburg

 

Schom­burg: The Man Who Built a Library
writ­ten by Car­ole Boston Weatherford
illus­trat­ed by Eric Velasquez
Can­dlewick Press, 2017

Amid the schol­ars, poets, authors, and artists of the Harlem Renais­sance stood an Afro – Puer­to Rican named Arturo Schom­burg. This law clerk’s life’s pas­sion was to col­lect books, let­ters, music, and art from Africa and the African dias­po­ra and bring to light the achieve­ments of peo­ple of African descent through the ages. When Schomburg’s col­lec­tion became so big it began to over­flow his house, he turned to the New York Pub­lic Library, where he cre­at­ed and curat­ed a col­lec­tion that was the cor­ner­stone of a new Negro Divi­sion. A cen­tu­ry lat­er, his ground­break­ing col­lec­tion, known as the Schom­burg Cen­ter for Research in Black Cul­ture, has become a bea­con to schol­ars all over the world.

That Book Woman

 

That Book Woman
writ­ten by Heather Henson
illus­trat­ed by David Small
Atheneum, 2008
(con­tributed by Ani­ta Dualeh)

Cal does­n’t like to read so he has a hard time under­stand­ing why that book woman rides up to his house over some of the tough­est ter­rain in Appalachia just to bring his sis­ter more to read. He admires the per­sis­tence of this Pack Horse Librar­i­an, though, and read­ers of this book will be awed by how this WPA lit­er­a­cy projects turned so many peo­ple into life­long readers.

Tomas and the Library Lady

 

Tomás and the Library Lady
writ­ten by Pat Mora
illus­trat­ed by Raul Colón
Knopf, 19972

Based on the true sto­ry of the Mex­i­can-Amer­i­can author and edu­ca­tor Tomás Rivera, a child of migrant work­ers who went on to become the first minor­i­ty Chan­cel­lor in the Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia sys­tem, this inspi­ra­tional sto­ry sug­gests what libraries — and edu­ca­tion — can make possible.

When the Library Lights Go Out

 

When the Library Lights Go Out
writ­ten by Megan McDonald
illus­trat­ed by Kater­ine Tillotson
Atheneum, 20015

When the library clos­es at night, have you imag­ined what goes on inside? Three sto­ry-hour pup­pets believe the “closed” sign means “open for adven­ture.” At first there are only Rab­bit and Lion. Her­mit Crab is miss­ing. Where can she be in the library dark­ness? Find out for your­self when — mag­i­cal­ly — only pup­pets are mov­ing about in the library.

Who Stole the Wizard of Oz?

 

Who Stole the Wiz­ard of Oz?
writ­ten by Avi
Knopf, 1981

When a rare edi­tion of The Wiz­ard of Oz is miss­ing from the local library, Becky is accused of steal­ing it. She and her twin broth­er Toby set out to catch the real thief and prove her inno­cence. Clues clev­er­ly hid­den in four oth­er books lead to a hid­den trea­sure — and a grip­ping adven­ture. A good read-aloud for ear­ly grades.

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Heidi Hammond
4 years ago

Thank you for this list. You might want to add Dream­ers by Yuyi Morales, Plant­i­ng Sto­ries: The Life of Librar­i­an and Sto­ry­teller Pura Bel­pré by Ani­ka Aldamuy Denise and Pao­la Esco­bar, and Ron’s Big Mis­sion by Rose Blue and Corinne Naden. I used the first and last books with my Intro­duc­tion to Library and Infor­ma­tion Sci­ence classes.

Beth Raff
Beth Raff
4 years ago

I love The Library by Sarah Stew­art. I also own The Man Who Loved Libraries: The Sto­ry of Andrew Carnegie.

Anita
4 years ago

Lots of good books in this list.
I might add That Book Woman by Heather Hen­son (about the Pack Horse Librar­i­ans) and The Librar­i­an of Bas­ra: A True Sto­ry From Iraq by Jeanette Winter.