Children's Books discussion

In March, the Picture Book Club will explore that most wonderful of wonderful places: the Library! Here is a great collection of books on the subject and the place for members to discuss those books that weren't part of our official six selections for March.

A few to start:

Library Lion

Bats at the Library

The Boy Who Was Raised by Librarians

That Book Woman

Biblioburro: A True Story from Colombia

Dewey: There's a Cat in the Library!

The Library

Library Mouse

Pumpkin Cat by Ann Turner
(this is perhaps more suited to Autumn, but still adorable)

But Excuse Me That is My Book (a Charlie and Lola book)

Wild About Books

Tomás and the Library Lady

Wilhelmina wrote: "Tomás and the Library Lady"

Thank you, Wilhelmina! I just wanted to point out that this book was actually an official selection for our May 2010 club read on Latino Books (those interested in that thread can see here: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/3...) Of course, I know many members have joined since then and this is a wonderful book that many might enjoy reading and it's perfect for a library theme. We don't have rules about repeat books, but I did just want to point this out for consistency's sake.

Waiting for the Biblioburro

Miss Smith and the Haunted Library

Our Library

Rachel's Library

The Best Book to Read

Beatrice Doesn't Want To

The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq

B is for Bookworm : A Library Alphabet

Miss Dorothy and Her Bookmobile

Stella Louella's Runaway Book

Lucy's Quiet Book

Here is one more book, although it was previously suggested for the African American themed month (but I don't think it was ever one of the official choices and I do think that it fits in with the theme of libraries).

Ron's Big Mission

Ok, I'm going to read everything in this thread. I nominate:

When the Library Lights Go Out

Cheryl in CC NV wrote: "Ok, I'm going to read everything in this thread."

I know, don't they look fabulous!? :-) I have already read several of them and loved them.

How about Library Lil by Suzanne Williams?

Most that I wanted to nominate have already been nominated! :) Great list so far. Here are some titles not already listed that my library system has. Some I've read, some I haven't.

The Shelf Elf
Check It Out!: The Book about LibrariesThere's a Dragon in the LibraryLibrary Lily
No T. Rex in the Library
The Library Gingerbread Man
The Librarian from the Black Lagoon
Bats at the Library
Delilah D. at the Library
Winston the Book Wolf
Corduroy Goes to the Library
Little Bo Peep's Library Book

I Took My Frog to the Library by Eric A. Kimmel

So many good books already listed... how 'bout these:

Miss Brooks Loves Books! by Barbara Bottner
Dinosaur vs. the Library by Bob Shea
The Day Dirk Yeller Came to Town by Mary Casanova
The Inside-Outside Book of Libraries by Julie Cummins
The Librarian Who Measured the Earth by Kathryn Lasky
Check It Out! What a Librarian Does by Patricia Hubbell
How My Library Grew by Martha Alexander
The Saturday Escape by Daniel J. Mahoney
I.Q. Goes to the Library by Mary Ann Fraser
Please Bury Me in the Library by J. Patrick Lewis

I am thrilled by how long our list is already. You can tell we are a bunch of library lovers!!! ;->

New release: Can I Bring Wooly to the Library, Ms. Reeder by Lois G. Grambling, illustrated by Judy Love, ISBN 978-1-58089-281-0

Stewart Little: Stewart at the Library

Just adding the links for the two books above (thank you, Linda and Jennifer)

Can I Bring Woolly to the Library, Ms. Reeder?

Stuart Little at the Library

Thanks to all for the wonderful nominations!

Now is your opportunity to vote for the books that you would like to read with the group. Please choose five of the books from our official list (messages 2-17) and post your choices in a comment below. Votes will be accepted until February 14th. Thank you :-)

My votes go to

The Boy Who Was Raised by Librarians
That Book Woman
The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq
Miss Dorothy and Her Bookmobile
Waiting for the Biblioburro

Too many good choices, sigh.

Kathryn, so sorry, but one more from above: I Took My Frog to the Library by Eric A. Kimmel

Kathryn wrote: "Just adding the links for the two books above (thank you, Linda and Jennifer)

Can I Bring Woolly to the Library, Ms. Reeder?

Stuart Little at the Library"

There are a lot of new ones here for me! I vote for:

Library Lil

Library Mouse

Miss Dorothy and Her Bookmobile

That Book Woman

The Boy Who Was Raised by Librarians

I vote for these five books:

Delilah D. at the Library

Rachel's Library

Waiting for the Biblioburro

Winston the Book Wolf

Stella Louella's Runaway Book

Here are my votes:
Waiting for the Biblioburro
The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq
That Book Woman
Winston the Book Wolf
Library Lil

I haven't yet participated in the picture book club, but as this subject is one I use quite regularly, I thought I'd try this time! I vote for:

But Excuse Me That Is My Book
The Library Dragon
The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq
That Book Woman
The Library

Eeek! I have factored in the above votes and added my own votes. We have three clear winners


That Book Woman
The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq
Waiting for the Biblioburro


but five books are locked in a tie! I will leave the voting open for another day; if you have a preference, please let me know which two out of these five you would most like to see added to our official list. Thanks!


The Boy Who Was Raised by Librarians
Miss Dorothy and Her Bookmobile
But Excuse Me That Is My Book
The Library
Library Mouse

My two choices for the tiebreak are,

The Boy Who Was Raised by Librarians
Miss Dorothy and Her Bookmobile

Ditto what Gundula said. :)

I'm going to vote for
The Library and
But Excuse Me That Is My Book simply because I have read the others numerous times and would always prefer to be introduced to new books. But I love both of the books that Cheryl and Gundula have voted for so won't be disappointed if they are chosen.

My two votes:

The Library

Miss Dorothy and Her Bookmobile

The Boy Who Was Raised by Librarians

The Library

Miss Dorothy and Her Bookmobile and The Boy Who Was Raised by Librarians

Thanks for the help with the tie. We now have our OFFICIAL LIST. Yay! :-)

That Book Woman
The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq
Waiting for the Biblioburro
The Boy Who Was Raised by Librarians
Miss Dorothy and Her Bookmobile

Sixth/Alternate:
The Library

I have read most of those books in the past and loved them. Hope you are all able to find copies! I look forward to beginning our discussion in March.

Jenny wrote: "I'm going to vote for
The Library and
But Excuse Me That Is My Book simply because I have read the others numerous times and would always prefer to be introduced to new books. But..."

Jenny, I love Charlie and Lola and want to /plan to read "But Excuse Me..." so if you decide to read it, please post back with your thoughts and I will do the same :-)

Sounds good. I am hoping to read several of the other books that didn't make it onto our official book discussion list.

Jenny wrote: "Sounds good. I am hoping to read several of the other books that didn't make it onto our official book discussion list."

Great! :-) I, too, am hoping to read several of the others if I can find the time. They all look wonderful!

I've read a few more books about libraries/books this month:

Homer, The Library Cat3.5 STARS
Homer is a sweetie, that's for sure! He is so sweet and gentle and loves his quiet house and the quiet lady with whom he lives. But, one day he finds himself outside in the big, noisy world. Aaahhh! Will he ever find quiet again? The title gives you a big hint about that ;-) I wanted to love this book, but it ended up being just "pretty good" for me. I had expected something more about a cat actually living in the library, and this is more about his adventure in the outside world before he gets to the library. It's cute enough, but I couldn't help but feel sorry for poor Homer out there frightened on his own, though the ending is happy. I'm not sure the style of illustrations was really my cup of tea (though the cover and Homer are adorable!) Still, this book will probably appeal to many cat-lovers and library fans.

I really liked The Wonderful Book, though it's not about libraries so I probably shouldn't plug it here ;-) Still, it's a very sweet book about all the things animals in the woods think a book is for--before they learn that a book's main purpose is for reading. Loved the illustrations!

They both went on my shelves! Libraries, promoting literacy, imo it's all good. :)

I liked all the books, but that's usually me. I would be a hard judge to give any picture book a bad rating!!!
Miss Dorothy and Her Bookmobile was great! Since it was based on a real, live person, I felt the story was even more perfect. How Dorothy's life grew with her "libraries" and the children she encountered made me feel the same with the students I have taught. When they come back and ask me if I remember them makes teaching so important to me. One student came back and asked me if I knew who he was and I had to wait until he told me his name, then I remembered! Jeffrey was a wiggley, bright student in third grade and hardly ever listened. When he told me that he was now a pediatrician, I felt so wonderful knowing that he must have learned something in third grade. Miss Dorothy and her story reminded me of mine and that gave me a great feeling when I read it.

Of course, That Book Woman provided a new setting and appreciation for those children in the Appalachian Mountains. The author did an excellent job with the language of the time and the vocabulary. I liked the "passel" of books she brought to the family. The best part was at the end when the oldest brother broke down and asked his sister to teach him to read so he could find out what all the attraction to those chicken scratches in a book was! Having that book woman listen to Cal read was payment enough for her. Being a teacher, every day was like that for me too!

I also read Homer, the Library Cat, which was cute, but not my favorite.

I REALLY liked another one which was not on our list, but I had ordered it because it sounded good. AND IT WAS! Library Mouse was about Sam who lived in the library and surprised the children with books that he wrote and illustrated. Of course, the children want to meet this fantastic author. Sam has a unique solution to this request. I'll let you find out for yourself how this story has the perfect ending. You'll love it!

I also read Bats at the Library that had great illustrations and promoted the idea that books can pull the reader into stories and allow them to be apart of other worlds. A nice little moral to this story.

This was a super theme for this month and I discovered more than I bargained for. What fun I had

Good to know that second-graders can love picture books, with the right adult to share!

I read The Library Gingerbread Man to my children. We loved it. The gingerbread man escapes his home at 398.2 on the library shelf. Many other characters try to catch him, such as the thesaurus at 423.1 who shouts, "Stop! Cease! Halt!" Will they be able to catch him? What will happen when he climbs on the back of the arctic fox? I love that this incorporates some of the original text, such as the refrain, "Run, run as fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man." It also introduces the Dewey decimal system (although an author's note explaining the system would be a good addition). Great illustrations as well.

I also read Dewey: There's a Cat in the Library! to my children. This had beautiful illustrations and was a sweet story.

I have read Library Mouse to my students and my own children. It is darling! There are three sequels (I've only read one): Library Mouse: A Friend's Tale and Library Mouse: A World to Explore andLibrary Mouse: A Museum Adventure.

I have read Library Mouse to my students and my own children. It is darling! There are three sequels (I've only read one): Library Mouse: A Friend's Tale and Library Mouse: A World to Explore andLibrary Mouse: A Museum Adventure.

Thanks Jenny, I did see the sequels and I know I won't be able to hold out too long before I order them.

Tricia wrote: "This was a super theme for this month and I discovered more than I bargained for. What fun I had."



:-) I'm so glad. I'm having a great time, too. Still have a few out to read, too.

I read Library Mouse a few years ago and agree that it is really cute!

Jenny wrote: "I read The Library Gingerbread Man to my children. We loved it. The gingerbread man escapes his home at 398.2 on the library shelf. Many other characters try to catch him, such as..."

That sound very cute! And I liked the Gingerbread Man story when I was a kid, so I will probably like this, too :-)

I am so "wild" about Wild About Books. A wonderful story about discovering the joys of reading. Great fun! It's about a librarian who parks her bookmobile in the zoo, then proceeds to help the animals love books, find the stories they will like best, and understand how to treat books nicely. It's an absolute hoot and the text and illustrations both weave in many famous books; children will be familiar with some of them, and will probably giggle over the idea of otters reading Harry Potter, for example ;-) Sierra and Brown wrote this in honor of Dr. Seuss, and I think he would be pleased with the homage.

Note that even though this book takes place in a zoo, the animals seem very much in natural habitats, not in cages, so even those of you who do not like zoos may still enjoy this sweet, delightful tale.

I love Wild About Books!