Library - Hardcover

Sarah Stewart

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1845074947 ISBN 13: 9781845074944

Publisher: Frances Lincoln Children's Books, 2006

Synopsis

Originally published: New York: Farrar Straus and Giroux, 1995.

About this title

About the Author

Sarah Stewart and David Small are the author and illustrator of The Gardener, a Caldecott Honor Book. They live in a historic house in Michigan.

From Booklist

Ages 5^-8. Although there is no author's note, this picture book is dedicated to the memory of the real librarian who inspired it. The story begins with young Elizabeth Brown, who doesn't like dolls or skates but instead prefers to spend her time reading. She reads through childhood and college, and as an adult, she spends her money on books, books, and more books. It's a little difficult to incorporate some of the concepts into the pithy, rhyming text. For instance: "The form was for donations. / She quickly wrote this line: `I, E. Brown, gives to the town / All that was ever mine.'" The next page shows a library with her name on the sign. Did she donate the books to a library, which was then named after her, or did she actually help build the building? It's a testament to Stewart and Small's collaboration that the book works as well as it does. The story of a spinster who does nothing but read isn't the most scintillating of topics, but Elizabeth's life takes on gentle humor as she is shown reading while standing on her head or trying to vacuum and read at the same time. Small's framed pastel artwork uses wonderfully unique perspectives, showing rooms with roaring fireplaces and books piled high to the ceiling. Reading has never looked quite so delicious. Ilene Cooper

About this edition

• Publisher: Frances Lincoln Children's Books
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1845074947
• ISBN 13: 9781845074944
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 40
• Illustrator: David Small