In praise of teachers, librarians and library cards
With a new school year about to start in my corner of the globe, I’m reminded of the essential work of teachers and librarians in helping our children learn to turn to reading and books to satisfy their curiosity about the world.
Teachers and librarians have been the subject of many children’s books to date, and some time ago Reading Year posted a call out for suggestions of books featuring teachers. Many readers submitted titles, and the result was the delightful “100 Cool Teachers in Children’s Literature” list. And let me tell you: cool is an understatement here. Those teachers, and the list itself, are hands down awesome!
Then, inspired by Reading Year’s feat, The Book Dragon blog spearheaded a quest for the “100 Librarians in Children’s and YA Literature,” and the resulting list was another treasure trove to explore. At the time, PaperTigers also got on the bandwagon by requesting librarian Minjie Chen to put together her own list of favorite books about libraries and librarians.
If you know of titles to add to these fantastic compilations, do send them/us a note. There are probably as many such books out there as there are ways to celebrate teachers and librarians. So let’s count the ways… and the stories! And don’t forget: September is Library Card Sign-Up Month and a great time to remind kids that reading can be electrifying and mind-expanding!
August 19th, 2008 at 4:14 am
Thanks for giving our list of Cool Teachers some promo! Hard to believe we started that list TWO years ago!!! We are up to 112 Cool Teachers, and would LOVE to keep adding more.
August 19th, 2008 at 10:39 am
For many of us, our first library card was possibly more momentous than our first driver’s license! I’ve never found anything that depicted that event as vividly as Eleanor Estes did in Rufus M, a book about a small boy whose siblings all had their own library cards, while he couldn’t get one until he could print his own name. When I first read that as a little girl, it seemed perfect and much, much later in my life it still does.
August 19th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
I grew up in Brazil, and in all the small towns I lived in before going to college, there were no public libraries, much less school ones. The first time I entered a library I was 17, and in awe, so I can only marvel at the idea of children growing up visiting the library regularly. I’m wondering why the boy in your story couldn’t get his library card before learning to write his name, though. Did they have to be of a certain age to get it, in the past? I took my daughter to get her own card when she was only two.
August 19th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Yes–Rufus M was written in the 1940s, I believe, and at that time a library card was a form of contract that the reader would be responsible for checked out books. If you were too young to write your name, then you were considered too young to take on that responsibility. I’m glad times have changed–on the other hand, becoming “of age” was a pretty cool rite of passage.
August 19th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Yes, I can imagine how momentous it would be to finally be able to have your own card, when you’ve been waiting for it for so long… I don’t think my daughter will remember getting her first library card, but I’ll make sure to remind her that it was because one of her first words was “book” and because every time she went to the library with me she glowed, as if if she understood that that was the most important building in town.
August 21st, 2008 at 4:02 am
Taking my two to the library is like going to the sweetie shop – in fact, they enjoy it much more because they are given free rein
I am so glad libraries nowadays are such hubs of activity – at one of my schools we hardly used the library at all because it was so hush hush!
And can you imagine not being able to get hold of books? I help with our local “Books-on-Wheels”, delivering to people who can’t get to the library – it’s a wonderful sevice and I have to say, our librarian is amazing at picking out appropriate books for people, and tracking requests down etc… I hope that if I ever find myself in that situation, someone will do the same for me!