The Library Pages

While she out on maternity leave, Mrs. Heath, librarian at Happyland Elementary School, is shocked and surprised when she receives a DVD from her students showing some very bad library practices taking place in her absence.

K-Gr 3–Not since Carmen Deedy's The Library Dragon (Peachtree, 1994) flew in has there been such a humorous way to introduce library protocol. Mrs. Heath, librarian at Happyland Elementary School, receives a DVD and letter from her students while she is on maternity leave. The letter notes that they miss her, and that the substitute falls asleep and snores while reading in the rocker. Meanwhile the pages are "helping" to keep the library running smoothly. Each scene horrifies Mrs. Heath more as the children describe putting all the thin books together, shelving the books by color, mending them with attractively colored duct tape, cutting pictures out of encyclopedias for collages, shelving every third book with the pages pointing out, borrowing books without checking them out–the list goes on and on. Just as the mortified Mrs. Heath is ready to call the school, the kids pop on the screen and yell "April Fool!" Docampo's colorful combination of manual and digital illustrations sets a perfectly mood for this story. This is an entertaining read-aloud, a humorous joke, and an excellent starter for library orientation.Debbie Whitbeck, West Ottawa Public Schools, Holland, MI
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