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.
The Haunted Library 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? |
Lola at the Library 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 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: 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: How Anne Carroll Moore Created Libraries for Children 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 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 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: 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 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 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: The Man Who Built a Library 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 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. |
Tomás and the Library Lady 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 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? 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. |
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.
Thank you, Heidi. I’ve added your recommendations!
I love The Library by Sarah Stewart. I also own The Man Who Loved Libraries: The Story of Andrew Carnegie.
Of course! to your first suggestion. I hadn’t heard about the Carnegie book. Seeking it out. Thank you!
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.
Two excellent suggestions, Anita. I’ll have them added soon. Thank you!