(2) 4-6 Readers willing to suspend an absolute ocean of disbelief will find an original, outlandish romp of a tale. Newborn Esmeralda is left in the stacks of the Huffington (IN) Public Library and kept secret by four librarians who all long to be mothers. The women take turns staying overnight in the library as they raise the girl together, somehow avoiding detection for her entire childhood. Fast-forward to when Essie, now eleven, is given a bit more freedom to explore the wider world, venturing outside the library's walls for the first time. One day, she meets a boy named G.E. who Essie becomes convinced is in fact her twin brother and also in a parallel situation to hers -- that he's being raised by four fathers, men who work in a nearby department store. As it turns out, Essie is mistaken -- but not entirely so. The novel's setup allows Horvath plenty of opportunities for commentary on reading and literature ("A good book or play was a good book or play whether it was Louis the Fish or Henry V"), libraries, family, and even the perils of revolving doors. Horvath takes as much care with the characterizations of the four librarians as she does with Essie's, and as always her storytelling abilities are top-notch.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2024

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Emily Gravett. When Summer, a detached and frustrated fourth grader, shouts at her foster father, "You're not my dad," a sinkhole opens in the living-room floor, and everything starts to get out of hand. Beneath the floor, in a huge cavern, Summer discovers a dragon, a sword in a stone, and a potential treasure. She eventually finds herself in possession of the treasure: a bottle with a witch inside and a "DO NOT OPEN" label. This warning goes unheeded, and once released, the witch promises to grant Summer three wishes. Still struggling to establish her place in school and with her foster family, Summer has plenty of big wishes ready to go, but unfortunately, they come at a cost. Interjected throughout the dramatic story are comic breaks provided by the witch's smug cat, Tobias. Gravett's moody, fantastical art punctuates the chapters with extra personality, deftly building tension or slowing it down at key plot points. With the support of well-drawn secondary characters, including true friend Aishwarya and librarian Mrs. Brathwaite (who is well-versed in the tricky history of witches and the power of words), Summer stands up to the trouble she has created for herself and for those she cares about. Summer (unwittingly) marches new fantasy readers through a number of tropes that will introduce them to the genre as she discovers that many wishes can be fulfilled without the aid of magic.

Reviewer: Julie Roach | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2025

(1) K-3 Illustrated by April Harrison. Few people have had more of an impact on African American children's literature than griot, educator, and librarian Augusta Baker (1911–1998). Her path to becoming a master storyteller began in Baltimore with listening to her grandmother's folktales. A class on folklore in college further inspired her, and she became a children's librarian in Harlem. It became apparent that while most of the children in the library were Black, most books available to them had no Black characters, and the ones that did "were RUDE, MEAN, and JUST PLAIN WRONG." Baker created a book collection that showcased realistic and positive depictions of African Americans and shared her knowledge with other educators and librarians. Her work carried her to becoming the first Black coordinator of children's services for all of New York Public Library, hosting radio shows, teaching classes, and traveling the country as the "Mistress of Storytelling." McDaniel gives an account of Baker's life that is as celebratory as the heroes in her folktales, attesting that Baker internalized the message that "where there's a will, there's a way." Harrison's exuberant mixed-media-collage illustrations capture the vibrancy of both the storyteller and her stories, creating worlds and words that leap off pages. Back matter includes a timeline, citations, and an author's note, where McDaniel celebrates her own childhood librarian.

Reviewer: Eboni Njoku | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2024

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Magaly Morales. "Pura Belpré always knew that many stories worth telling aren't in books" is the lingering message of this picture-book biography. Growing up in Puerto Rico, Belpré listened as her abuela told vivid cuentos that elicited "giggles...shivers...sighs," reactions later mirrored by the enthralled library audiences with whom Pura shared those same folk stories. Belpré began library work in Harlem among a growing Spanish-speaking diaspora, at a time when the library lacked both staff to communicate in their patrons' language and books to reinforce a connection. Recognizing how the rigid traditions of storytime limited her ability to promote culturally relevant stories--stories shared had to be read from a book--Belpré proposed her own oral storytelling practice to the library "bosses" (all depicted as white). Eventually she published those stories and devoted herself to reaching the public beyond library walls, paving the way for practices of modern librarianship. Pimentel (Girl Running, rev. 3/18) captures Belpré's dazzling storytelling ("She hisses...murmurs...roars") through text that carries a soft rhythm apt for reading aloud. Morales's (A Piñata in a Pine Tree, rev. 11/09) digital images feature a bright and distinct color palette and illustrate Pura's liveliness through dynamic perspectives and expressive gestures. Deftly incorporated details throughout the art, including a coqui and characters such as Pérez and Martina, evoke Belpré's childhood influences and culture. An author's note, a source list, and a selected bibliography are appended. Pair with González and Delacre's The Storyteller's Candle and Denise and Escobar's Planting Stories (rev. 1/19).

Reviewer: Jessica Agudelo | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2021

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Paola Escobar. As a bilingual assistant at Nueva York's public library in 1921, Pura Belpré retells the folk stories of her native Puerto Rico at storytimes and eventually writes them down for publication. Descriptive language moves between English and Spanish seamlessly. Both text and expressive, warm illustrations carry the metaphor of planting seeds, so that readers see the seeds of Belpré's stories bloom as the biographical details unfold. Also available in Spanish. Reading list. Bib.

Reviewer: Alicia K. Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2019

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Beatriz Vidal. This is a lightly fictionalized picture-book biography of Mexican author Sor (Sister) Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648–1695), then keeper of one of the largest libraries in the Americas. Watercolor and gouache illustrations lend a sunny, idyllic feel to Juana's Mexico. As the original Horn Book review noted, there's no formal bibliography, but Mora acknowledges the work of "the Sor Juanistas, scholars of Sor Juana." Appended with an author's note and glossary for interspersed Spanish words. Concurrently published with a new edition in Spanish: Una biblioteca para Juana.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2002; November, 2019

(4) 4-6 In 1905, when public library service in the U.S. was young, Mary Lemist Titcomb set out to serve all corners of Washington County, Maryland, by loading up a horse-drawn wagon and making the rounds. Glenn provides a basic biography of Titcomb and recounts the success of her invention. Many photographs and ephemera in a stylish scrapbook design lend interest to a rather dry text. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Miriam Lang Budin

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Amiko Hirao. Librarian Clara Breed was a hero to the Japanese American children in San Diego who were banished to internment camps during WWII: she sent books, postcards, soap, and other supplies to cheer them up. Hirao's colored-pencil illustrations and archival black-and-white photographs on the endpapers help contextualize Grady's moving story, which includes excerpts from the children's actual letters. Reading list, timelines. Bib.

Reviewer:

(1) YA Translated by Lilit Žekulin Thwaites. The children in 1944 Auschwitz-Birkenau's "family camp" are kept busy so their parents can work more efficiently--or so the Nazis think; in fact, the prisoners are running a school. Even more extraordinary, the school has a librarian: fourteen-year-old Edita Adlerova (based on a real person), in charge of eight precious, forbidden books. Iturbe's remarkable account uses an immediate present tense to immerse readers in Dita's story. Bib.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2018

(3) 4-6 True Stories, Real People series. Each short, inspiring biography is divided into four or five chapters written in an objective, unpretentious manner. Quotation sources are fastidiously footnoted and listed in the back matter. Navigation is easy thanks to clean layouts and a simple color scheme (orange photo captions, navy call-out boxes). Great for school assignments and engaging enough for pleasure reading. Reading list. Glos., ind. Review covers the following True Stories, Real People titles: Alia Muhammad Baker, Aron Ralston, Malala Yousafzai, Abby Sunderland, and Bethany Hamilton.

Reviewer: Amy Seto Forrester

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Debby Atwell. This easygoing picture-book biography gives us a simple narrative of Anne Carroll Moore's Maine childhood and early love of books on through to her career at the New York Public Library. With sun-dappled acrylic paintings of, first, rural Maine and, later, triumphantly, the light-filled interiors of NYPL's new Children’s Room, the tone here is one of uncomplicated optimism, reflecting Moore's practical idealism. Bib.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2013

(3) K-3 Illustrated by Susan Condie Lamb. As a girl, Dorothy Thomas wanted to be "in charge of a fine brick building just like the one where she checked out books" in her Massachusetts hometown. Thomas instead finds her calling in North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains, driving a bookmobile and eventually overseeing a small-town library. Eye-pleasing pastel-hued illustrations picture the resourceful early-twentieth-century redhead toting books to her various patrons.

Reviewer: Sheila M. Geraty

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Stephen Gilpin. In 2000, Texas librarian RoseAleta Laurell climbed to her library's roof to raise awareness--and funds--to help rehab the building. Ultimately her attention-getting stunt was rewarded with money for a new children's room and many new patrons. Humorous dialogue conveys Ms. Laurell's larger-than-life personality. More photographs of the real deal would have been a nice addition, to tone down the cartoon-zany digitally colored illustrations.

Reviewer: Sarah Novogrodsky

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Lulu Delacre. A fictional girl introduces readers to the very real Pura Belpré, pioneer of services to Spanish-speakers at the New York Public Library in the 1930s. Like Belpré's story hours, the text is in both English and Spanish; the story has a worthy subject, but the telling is labored. Gently lined paintings bring tropical color to the frosty New York streets. Glos.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton

(2) K-3 Winter's picture book describes Alia Muhammad Baker's attempt to save her library's collection when war comes to the Iraqi city of Basra in 2003. The illustrations represent the terrors of war realistically but not graphically. This tale provides a good way to talk about war and demonstrates the quiet heroism of fighting for something important without using violence.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2005

(2) K-3 The action in Stamaty's black ink drawings is immediate and exciting as graphic-novel panels tell about the 2003 rescue of an Iraqi library's books in the midst of the war. A talking book character provides background and narrates the story, describing librarian Alia Baker as a "real-life superhero." Information about the history of libraries in the Middle East is appended.

Reviewer: Susan Dove Lempke | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2005

(4) 4-6 This well-rounded biography traces Laura Bush's journey from shy Texas schoolgirl to first lady of the United States. Her professional accomplishments as a teacher and librarian and her daily life as a wife and mother are related in competent, if occasionally cloying, prose. The volume includes an insert of color photos showing Bush with her family and at public events. Websites. Bib.

Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta

(3) 4-6 After an opening chapter on the New Deal and WPA programs, a lengthy second chapter (half the book) is a fictionalized account of one workday for a pack-horse librarian as she brings well-worn books and magazines to a mountain community. Subsequent chapters offer information about the program, and numerous archival photos add interest. Bib.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2001

(4) K-3 Illustrated by Gabi Swiatkowska. A snowstorm prevents Mary, the librarian who drives the bookmobile, from taking her niece Hannah home on Christmas Eve. The older vehicle can't get up the lane to Hannah's house, so Hannah and her aunt happily decide to spend the night in the bookmobile, sustained by many food gifts from their patrons. Acrylic illustrations thoughtfully convey the context of this warmly told, although somewhat contrived, story.

Reviewer: Frieda F. Bostian