Library Lil
Librarians all cheer for this charming, witty, stereotype-bashing tall tale-like heroine, Library Lil, a passionate advocate of books and reading, but don't worry-kids love her, too. We meet her as a strong, book-toting tyke who, by age eight, had read all the books in the children's room and started in on the encyclopedias, checking out a set at a time. Balancing the huge stack on the palm of one hand, she'd walk down the street with the "A" volume in the other hand, while turning the pages with her teeth. Lil grows up to become a public librarian in Chesterville, where the townsfolk prefer to spend their spare time with the TV instead of a good book. After a big storm, when the power is out for two weeks, Lil uses her great strength to push the old bookmobile all over town, delivering books to the entertainment-starved locals, who devour them.
One day, a motorcycle gang, led by pool-hustling, TV wrestling-addicted Bust-'em 'up Bill, rides into the now book-loving town. He's no match for Lil, who not only can toss a motorcycle as if it were a mere apple core, but gets the gang reading, and captures the biker's heart.
Themes : BOOKS AND READING. LIBRARIANS & LIBRARIES. LITERACY. TALL TALES.
CRITICS HAVE SAID
- Great fun, with Kellogg’s watercolors working hand-in-glove to put the humor of the tale over the top.
–Publishers Weekly - Kellogg’s distinctive toothy kids and laughing cats crowd the pages, fitting right in with the baby-faced biker banditos. A winner for storytimes anywhere.
–School Library Journal
IF YOU LOVE THIS BOOK, THEN TRY:
- Allen, Susan, and Jane Lindaman. Read Anything Good Lately? Millbrook, 2003.Dadey, Debbie. Shooting Star: Annie Oakley, the Legend. Walker, 1997.Ernst, Lisa Campbell. Stella Louella’s Runaway Book. Simon & Schuster, 1998.
Garland, Michael. Miss Smith’s Incredible Storybook.Dutton, 2003.
Isaacs, Anne. Swamp Angel.Dutton, 1994.
Kellogg, Steven. Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind Crockett. Morrow, 1995.
Knudsen, Michelle. Library Lion. Candlewick, 2006.
Lewis, J. Patrick. Please Bury Me in the Library. Harcourt, 2005.
Lies, Brian. Bats at the Library. Houghton Mifflin, 2008.
Morris, Carla.The Boy Who Was Raised by Librarians. Peachtree, 2007.
Numeroff, Laura Joffe. Beatrice Doesn’t Want To. Candlewick, 2004.
Parish, Herman. Amelia Bedelia, Bookworm. Greenwillow, 2003.
Polacco, Patricia. Aunt Chip and the Great Triple Creek Dam Affair. Philomel, 1996.
Sierra, Judy. Wild About Books. Knopf, 2004.
Stanley, Diane. Raising Sweetness.Putnam, 1999.
Thaler, Mike. The Librarian from the Black Lagoon. Scholastic, 1997.