IT’S LIBRARY DAY

It’s library day, and these kids can’t wait. One girl has just learned to read, another loves trains and another especially enjoys scary stories. All the members of this multiethnic primary-school class smile in anticipation. The principal walks the students down the hall to the library, where they meet the new librarian, Miss Faye, who finds something just right for each child to read. Next, the class sits on the floor and giggles out loud in response to a story that they love. It’s Minerva Louise (1988), the author’s concession to product placement in a book that, appealingly, features many familiar titles on the shelves, classic and newer, from Miss Rumphius to The Hello Goodbye Window. Rhyming text—in a large font suitable for emergent readers—and colorful illustrations nicely tell this clear, straightforward story about what goes on at a school library. A serviceable, if wholly propagandistic, introduction for very young students attending library class for the first time. (Picture book. 3-6)