Booktalk: Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians [All things library; 3]

Here’s a term you don’t often hear: “evil librarians.” Evil librarians?! Are you serious? In this graphic novel, Lunch Lady and her sidekick Betty discover a plot by the League of Librarians. They are four librarians who want to blow up a shipment of the brand new, ultra-cool video game consoles, the X-Station 5000. What a waste, right? These librarians are so opposed to video games that they’re willing to deal with high-powered weapons, like dictionaries! But don’t worry. Lunch Lady, as much as she loves reading, is not going to stand for that. And she has tools she’s going to use: taco-vision night goggles; the spork phone; hover pizzas; a sense of humor; a linguini lasso; and a huge celery stick. Can a world with both books and video games co-exist in peace and harmony? Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians by Jarrett J. Krosoczka.

Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians by Jarrett J. Krosoczka. Unpaged. 2009: Alfred A. Knopf. Booktalk to intermediate grades [grades 2-5].

Booktalk: Library Lion [All things library; 2]

Imagine you’re in a library, minding your own business, and you see a lion walking around, sniffing snuff, rubbing his head against the new books [show pp. {5-6}], and taking a nap in the children’s story corner. You’d be freaked out, right? I’d be! A librarian spotted him and ran to tell Miss Merriweather, the head librarian [show picture on p. {4}]. She said the lion could stay as long as he wasn’t breaking any rules. The lion actually behaved himself when Miss Merriweather put on storytime for the children! He liked the stories so much that he gave a tremendous roar when storytime was over. Okay, now he broke the rules. Miss Merriweather told him if he did that again, he couldn’t stay in the library. Poor lion actually looked sad. Clearly, he loves the library, and he loves storytime. Who doesn’t? Miss Merriweather even gives him little jobs to do, like licking envelopes and helping children get the books on the higher shelves by sitting on his back. But lions are capable of great strength and courage, and library lion has not yet passed the true test of his abilities. Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen.

Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen. Candlewick Press, 2006. Unpaged. Booktalk to K-3.

Booktalk: Dewey the Library Cat [All things library; 1]

People who work in libraries are used to finding all sorts of stuff in the library drop box: you know what that is, right? You’re outside the library, and you open up the slot and put your books in and you hear them drop into a bin. People mostly put their returned books in the bin, but sometimes people use it as a trash receptacle … or worse. A librarian named Vicki Myron and her colleague were extremely surprised one day to find a tiny, semi-frozen, frightened little kitten in their bin. Someone had put this tiny, neglected, half-starved kitten in the drop box. They found out the kitten was 8 weeks old, but it looked 8 days old. You could see the poor kitten’s every rib: it was that thin. Vicki gave the kitten food, a warm bath, lots of care, and love. The kitten survived, and lived in her library! They named the kitten Dewey, after the Dewey decimal system which libraries use. The patrons who came into the library loved Dewey. Often, he’d find someone in a bad mood. He’d plop himself right down on that person’s lap and take a nap. How can you be in a bad mood with a beautiful cat snoozing on your lap? It’s impossible. Dewey considered every part of the library to belong to him, and children and their parents would come in just to see him. Dewey the Library Cat: A True Story by Vicki Myron.

Dewey the Library Cat: A True Story by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter. 214 p. Little, Brown, 2010. Booktalk to intermediate grades, middle school.