The Library by Sarah Stewart Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Library
Book Review: Fabulous!
Summary: 5 Stars
My mother met Sarah Stewart, author of THE LIBRARY and sent me an autographed copy of the book. When I read it to my four year old daughter she laughed and laughed at the humor that is sometimes subtle in the text and brought delightfully to life in the illustrations. What fun this book is on my daughter's level and also on mine. And who hasn't walked into a wall trying to vaccuum while reading? So, I'm so greatful this book made its way into my ever growing cases and closets and piles of books. We will be reading it and recommending it to everyone for years to come.
So, as my autographed copy says, "Good books are friends for life!"
Heidi ("Lucky daughter of [the author's] new friend Jane" Yolen)
Book Review: It's okay to be solitary!
Summary: 5 Stars
As a librarian, I loved Sarah Stewart's description of books and reading. But as other reviewers have covered this aspect, I won't mention more.In addition, I found her portrayal of Elizabeth Brown refreshing. Although Elizabeth has friends, she spends much time alone reading. She grows up to be a single woman who lives alone and who never marries. It's okay to be solitary! It's okay to be single! Most books are about forming relationships with others. This one is about being yourself in solitude.
Book Review: Lovely Book
Summary: 5 Stars
I just read this book again and it almost made me cry. Of course this may be because I knew and loved the real Elizabeth Brown who was the librarian at the library in Mendon, Michigan when I was growing up. The real Elizabeth Brown was of course more 3-dimensional than the character in the book, but I love the Elizabeth Brown in the book as well. David Small's illustrations are as charming as ever. I will cherish my signed copy forever.Book Review: My three year old loves it!
Summary: 5 Stars
Ok, besides the stereotypes this book is cute. My 3 year old loves to have this book read to her. To see Elizabeth Brown so deep in a book that she runs into a wall or standing on her head while reading is so hilarious to her! She belly laughs. The pictures are great and the idea of having so many books that they cover that walls and break upper bunks is exciting to a child.Book Review: Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Summary: 4 Stars
Certain books recognize a niche and run at it full throttle. If you've ever known a librarian personally (everyone should be so lucky) then you know that this particular profession is obsessed with itself. Librarians love to seek out librarian related movies ("Party Girl", for example), music (Tori Amos's, "Songs of the Librarian"), and best of all... books! So when Sarah Stewart sat down and wrote a book entitled, "The Library", she basically guaranteed that it would be a success with at least one group of people in the world. Fortunately, the book is a hit with another group as well. Kids.
Our heroine is Elizabeth Brown and our heroine's method of entering the story is to fall from the sky into her mother's outstretched laundry linen. Says the text, "Elizabeth Brown/ Entered the world/ Dropping straight down from the sky/ Elizabeth Brown/ Entered the world/ Skinny, nearsighted, and shy". From the beginning the girl is an avid reader. With her constant companions at her side (a stuffed teddy bear and a continually serene housecat) we watch as Elizabeth Brown goes to school and breaks her own bunk bed with the weight of her books. She lends them to friends and eschews the lure of the opposite sex. Older still, she starts tutoring and lives on her own, reading all the while. Then one day there's no denying it any longer. "She had to face the awful fact". There are just too many books in the house. Without further ado her house becomes a library and she moves in with a female friend. To the end of their days they continue to read, "And turned page... after page... after page".
For readers (especially shy nearsighted ones) who have turned their lives over wholeheartedly to the reading of literature, this book is the ultimate compliment. As a Horn Book Magazine review once said, it shows a woman, "whose life is graceful and meaningful". Reading it myself, I love it. No question. But there is that nagging little voice at the back of my head that questions whether or not Elizabeth Brown did, in fact, lead a "meaningful" life. I suppose she did in the sense that she brought books to other people by opening her library. But her own life was, in a sense, squandered in books. Though she did have a friend at the end, she had no close relationships or fellow human companionship for quite some time. Then again, it's a good children's book that makes you ponder the meaning of what constitutes a rich and full life. Such big questions for such small packages.
As for the illustrations by David Small... they are without fault. I've read a lot of David Small books in my day, and to my mind this one is his best work in terms of skill. I've heard mumbles in the bookselling community that Small (married to the book's author Sarah Stewart) tends to make her the star of his illustrations on a regular basis. Just check out "The Money Tree" if you don't believe me. In this case, Small's somewhat choppy style has been tamed and given a great deal of depth and feeling. There are tiny evocative details in this story that charm as often as they impress. In a section that describes the seasons, a small blue colored bird grasps a flowering tree's branch between its little clawed feet. Delicate line drawings of leaves and snowflakes fall on either side of the text. And on each and every page the corners of the illustrations are held within beautiful cornerpieces. For kids, there's the added fun of trying to find Elizabeth Brown's teddy bear and cat in almost every illustration.
The book takes a love of reading to a safe extreme. It teaches children the joy of the process while, at the same time, being a fun and friendly book in and of itself. It's a little peculiar to read a book about reading (especially if you're a child) but I don't think they'll mind. In the end, it's so filled with a love of literature that even the most die hard television couch potato who happens to see it will be charmed. Altogether, a wonderful little work.