So You Want to Build a Library
There is no better place in the world than a library. Especially a library that kids create! A million stories high? Sure. Bathtubs? Absolutely. A full-service sundae bar? Of course. Everything is possible in this library—just like in books! The reader is in charge as the architect of a fantastical library in this imaginative picture book celebrating libraries and the joys of reading. Illustrated by Aviel Basil.
This book makes a great jumping-off point for discussing what children would put in their own libraries. Couple this book with an activity of building a library out of materials found around the house or in the classroom. Click here to take a look at the library Lindsay and her son built out of recycled materials hanging around their house.
Praise
“Believing that ‘there is no better place on Earth than where stacks and stacks of books are kept,’ a brown-skinned child with a ponytail imagines engineering a library of their own. The child scouts a picturesque waterside location, snags materials such as a table and a vehicle, then asks myriad fanciful characters (a red-haired giant, two brown-skinned sprites) to help with the build. Once the library is erected—it’s a haphazard towerlike structure replete with a slide—the protagonist fills the space with the expected (books on myriad topics), the realistic (“LOTS and LOTS of ladders”), and the unlikely (a sundae bar, waterslide, and zip line). Slick, unlined art by Basil in lemony yellow, mauve, and baby blue matches Leslie’s enthusiastic text, portraying fanciful figures—a sloth on skates, a snail in a baker’s toque, a guitar-playing waterfowl—emerging from a book. Kids often find autonomy in reading, an idea that these creators take to its logical extreme—and a tack that young library lovers intent on calling the shots are sure to appreciate.” — Publishers Weekly
