When the Library Lights Go Out - Hardcover

McDonald, Megan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0689861702 ISBN 13: 9780689861703

Publisher: Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books, 2005

Synopsis

CLOSED may mean "closed" to you. But for three story-hour puppets, CLOSED 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 up and about.

About this title

About the Author

Megan McDonald, beloved author of the Judy Moody books, is also a gifted storyteller. She is the author of When the Library Lights Go Out, illustrated by Katherine Tillotson; The Hinky-Pink, illustrated by Brian Floca; and the now-classic Is This a House for Hermit Crab?, illustrated by S.D. Schindler. She lives in Sebastopol, California.

Katherine Tillotson is the illustrator of several children’s books, including All Ears, All Eyes; All the Water in the World; Shoe Dog; and It’s Picture Day Today!. Ms. Tillotson lives in San Francisco with her husband. Visit her at KatherineTillotson.com.

Reviews

PreSchool-Grade 3–Three puppets enjoy a nighttime adventure in a library after hours. Amiable and amusing full-page illustrations, done in oils on paper, capture a sense of being alone in a big space and convey the warmth of wood tables and shelves full of books, but the text provides only an impressionistic and sketchy plot. Hermit Crab is missing from the puppet box after the librarian leaves, and Rabbit, who has been steeped in fairy tales, decides that she has been taken by a giant. Lion, more stolid and practical, finds a map that seems to point to landmarks within the building, but it tears as the friends pull at it. Lion folds the pieces into a boat, a sail, a captain's hat. Endearing as these puppets are to look at, they are frustrating to read about. The story reads, even aloud, like one improvised with puppets in hand: long on action and dialogue but with too many moments that pull against the center. Some of the magical elements seem inconsistent as well: Lion and Rabbit can sail the paper boat across the floor in the moonlight (the clock), but then dine on the remains of a real baloney sandwich and toast marshmallows over a lit match (in the library!!!). Overall, an appealing concept that doesn't quite live up to its magical promise.–Kathie Meizner, Montgomery County Public Libraries, Chevy Chase, MD
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

PreS-Gr. 2. After the library closes for the evening, story hour puppets Rabbit and Lion search for their puppet-friend Hermit Crab. Armed with a map, a flashlight, and a picnic salvaged from the "ucky-blucky" trash can, they explore the dark library, afraid that giants may have eaten their friend. When they become lost, Lion makes a paper boat, and they sail across the library--into a rock that talks, which turns out to be Hermit Crab, on his own adventure. Then the three friends share a late-night snack "and read themselves to sleep under the stars." Softly colored illustrations show the puppets enjoying their after-hours freedom but apprehensive about what might be hiding in the library's dark corners. A charming story, with special appeal for children who are convinced their own toys come to life in their absence. Karen Hutt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0689861702
• ISBN 13: 9780689861703
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Tillotson Katherine
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 40