Our Incredible Library Book and the Wonderful Journeys It Took. Caroline Crowe. Illustrated by John Joseph. 2023. [April] 32 pages. [Source: Library] [Picture book] [Books about books]
First sentence: Welcome to the library! A room packed with stories, from ceiling to floor, shelves of adventures for you to explore. But each book has two stories--the tale the words tell, and the tale of the journey it's been on as well... Down there on the shelf, all tattered and worn, is an old picture book: some pages are torn. But once it was new, pages crisp, every one, bursting with colours and brimming with fun. It took pride of place on the new books display, and was borrowed by Nia that very first day.
Premise/plot: This book celebrates readers AND reading. It is the story of ONE book (out of many) and its many readers through the decades. It begins with the book's first day on the "new book shelf" and the first child to check it out. It continues by sharing dozens (well, probably a dozen) of check-out stories. The book highlights how this one book was THE beloved book by so many.
My thoughts: I enjoy books about books, books about readers, books about reading. The first US publication is 2023. (It was published in the UK in 2022). I love the idea behind this one. The premise works for me. Books can be MAGICAL and WONDERFUL. It is easy to bond with books.
The part of me that overthinks can't help thinking that this book probably would have been weeded out of the collection when it got so tattered, torn, hold together with tape, etc. The very things that make it "real" (think Velveteen Rabbit) are the things that might lead it being weeded out. Now if it was still getting lots of love--checked out regularly--and if it was still in print, it might get reordered and replaced.
Even with my slight overthinking, I do love this one.
© 2023 Becky Laney of Young Readers
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