In order to recommend titles of children's books that feature libraries and librarians, I consulted bibliographies and searched online library catalogs, including the catalog of my university library, which houses the second largest collection of children's literature in the United States. To my disappointment, from the list of books about libraries/librarians, I could not glean many titles (available in the US) that portray minorities, and even fewer that related specifically to the Pacific Rim and South Asia region and its people.

The increasing number of "multicultural books" we see being published nowadays has certainly enriched the otherwise "all-white" world of American children's books. When it comes to books about libraries/librarians, however, we are looking at a profession seemingly dominated by Caucasian women, so the ethnic and gender diversity of librarians has just started to be reflected in children's books.

Since I have limited my selection to the area with which I am familiar, i.e. children's books in the US, titles listed below are not necessarily associated with the region of the Pacific Rim and South Asia. I recommend them because these books promote a love of reading and expand young readers' understanding of the many roles played by librarians. In addition to helping you select and/or check out books, librarians work at preserving, organizing and disseminating information, as well as promoting equal access to it. Their crucial work benefit and encourage lifelong learners who find entertainment and empowerment in the books and servicesthey provide, be it in schols, public libraries, or other venues.

Joanne Oppenheim,
Dear Miss Breed.
Scholastic, 2005.

U.S. West Coast Japanese-American families were interned following Pearl Harbor, during World War II. Clara Breed, a San Diego children's librarian, kept in touch with several of her evacuated young "regulars" and became an advocate for their release. The book is rich in primary material, and, as a Kirkus reviewer rightly put it, bears relevance in this post-9/11 atmosphere.

Pat Mora, illustrated by Raúl Colón,
Tomás and the Library Lady.
Knopf, 1997.

Tomás and his family are migrant farm workers who travel from Texas to Iowa picking fruit and vegetables. With the help of a friendly librarian, Tomás spends summer afternoons in the local public library and becomes engrossed by the wonderful world he discovers in books. The story is based on the childhood experiences of national education leader Dr. Tomás Rivera, who became Chancellor of the University of California, Riverside.

Winner of the 1997 Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children's Book Award
1998 International Reading Association Teachers' Choices

Jeanette Winter,
The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq.
Harcourt, Inc., 2005.

This folk-art style picture book tells the true story of how Alia Muhammad Baker, a librarian in Basra, Iraq, saved her community's priceless collection of books before the library was firebombed and destroyed. An article in the New York Times on 27 July 2003 first reported Alia's story, which inspired this book. For older children who want to know more detail about Alia's eventful rescue action, Alia's Mission: Saving the Books of Iraq, told by Mark Alan Stamaty in graphic novel format, will satisfy their curiosity.

2006 ALA Notable Books for Children

Judy Sierra, illustrated by Marc Brown,
Wild about Books.
Knopf, 2004.

This imaginative story started "when the Springfield librarian, Molly McGrew, by mistake drove her bookmobile into the zoo." It is great fun to watch how different animals appreciate reading their own favorite books in distinct ways.

2005 ALA Notable Books for Children

J. Patrick Lewis, illustrated by Kyle M. Stone,
Please Bury Me in the Library.
Gulliver Books/Harcourt, 2005.

This collection of cleverly crafted poems plays with words, and celebrates the joy of reading.

Kathryn Lasky, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes,
The Librarian Who Measured the Earth.
Joy Street Books, 1994.

Eratosthenes lived from about 276 BC to 194 BC in Ancient Greece and was head librarian of the famous Library of Alexandria. Among the many remarkable contributions that Eratosthenes made to the progress of science, this biography focuses on how he pursued geographical questions and found a method to calculate the circumference of the Earth accurately. This is one of the few children's books in which you read about a male librarian.

1995 ALA Notable Books for Children
1995 International Reading Association Children's Choices

Margriet Ruurs,
My Librarian is a Camel: How Books are Brought to Children around the World.
Boyds Mills Press, 2005.

Another informational book that is inspired by a newspaper article, it describes unusual mobile libraries found in thirteen countries, from Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe. Besides bookmobiles, librarians have employed animals (camels, horses, donkeys, elephants), bicycles, and even a wheelbarrow, to bring books to children in hard-to-reach areas.

A book on a similar topic for older children is Down Cut Shin Creek: The Pack Horse Librarians of Kentucky by Kathi Appelt & Jeanne Cannella Schmitzer (HarperCollins, 2001). It relates a little-known part of American and library history during the Great Depression, when Kentucky pack-horse librarians rose before dawn and followed dangerous mountain trails to deliver books, magazines, pamphlets, and scrapbooks to the schools and homes of some of America's poorest people.

William Miller, illustrated by Gregory Christie,
Richard Wright and the Library Card.
Lee & Low Books, 1997.

Based on an episode from the autobiography of Richard Wright, Black Boy, in which the seventeen-year-old African-American convinces a white co-worker, Jim Falk, to lend him his library card so that he can check out books by pretending to get them for Falk. As it turns out, Wright devours every book as a ticket to freedom.

Suzanne Williams, illustrated by Steven Kellogg,
Library Lil.
Dial Books for Young Readers, 1997.

The people of Chesterville don't attend Library Lil's story time, or check out books, despite her best effort—they are too busy watching TV—, but her chance finally comes when a horrible storm takes down the power lines.

Mike Thaler, illustrated by Jared Lee,
The Librarian from the Black Lagoon.
Scholastic, 1997.

"Today our class is going to the library. We've been hearing some really scary things about the place." , starts this humorous story. Kids will enjoy a good laugh learning about all kinds of frightening— funny—things that the rumored monster librarian does until in the end the story discloses what she is really like. I know a school librarian who loves to share this story with her children on their first day of library visit!

Carmen Agra Deedy, illustrated by Michael P. White.
The Library Dragon.
Peachtree, 1994.

This is another picture book about a fearsome librarian. When the Sunrise Elementary School is seeking a thick-skinned children's librarian "to help reduce inventory damage and loss," a fire-breathing dragon named Miss Lotta Scales applies and takes the job. With flames and claws, she succeeds in keeping the books completely away from children, but wait until someone rolls into the library and tames the dragon lady!

Julia L. Sauer, illustrated by Don Freeman,
Mike's House.
Viking Press, 1954.