Advanced Literature for Children

Review of LIBRARY LION:

Knudsen, Michelle. Library Lion. Kevin Hawkes, illustrator. New York: Candlewick Press, 2006.

How can a nostalgic, sepia toned book full of sexual stereotypes, a card catalog rather than a computer, librarians who shush and yell things like, "no running" be one of my favorite books of 2006? You just have to read it yourself to believe it. With a Library Director that is male, a female head librarian that wears glasses, SAS shoes, and a bun, and a "story lady" how can we as librarians applaud this book? Because the story and pictures work together seamlessly to show that there is nothing so important in the life of a child as listening to a story, that creatures of all ages should be allowed to enjoy books being read aloud and that everyone is welcome if they obey one simple rule of being relatively quiet.

Miss Merriweather, the Head Librarian makes and follows the rules and when a lovely large lion wonders in for storytime and continues to roar he must leave but he is welcome to come back tomorrow because there is no rule against lions attending storytime. The lion proves that no place else pleases him so much as the neibhborhood library because he always arrives hours before for storytime. Miss Merriweather who looks like a librarian of 1950s Americana realizes the lion isn't going to leave so she puts him to work licking envelopes and dusting books. The library lion gets banned from the library again as he runs to find Mr. McBee at Miss Merriweather's urging as she has fallen and is hurt after reaching a little too far to get a book off the top shelf. The Library Lion's behavior is reminiscent of the television dog Lassie. Mr. McBee is happy to make the lion leave. After all he is making noise. McBee runs to find Miss Merriweather happily mumbling that the lion has broken the rules, broken the rules! After looking high and low around town Mr. McBee finds our lion and brings him back to the library because Miss Merriweather and the children are pining for him. Mr. McBee learns that even in libraries, sometimes rules have to be broken. The faces and hair in the illustration contain all colors. Some men have goatees and longer hair, some look more traditional. We see an Asian mother and her daughter and an African American child. The picture of the lion asleep with his proud handsome head lying in the middle of a denim beanbag chair in the library is pretty enough to frame. The plot and storyline are strong. There is a conflict and it is resolved in a positive way, the lion is found and returns to the library he loves full of humans that love him.