Clementine Book Club: Chapter 7
How to save our libraries + some recent picture book favorites to add to your hold list
This picture book club post is dedicated to the importance of libraries due to the latest executive order last Friday threatening to eliminate the IMLS which provides significant funding each year to libraries and museums around the country, allowing them to pay staff salaries and create free educational programming for public, school, academic and research libraries. You can sign this petition organized by EveryLibrary.org to encourage Congress to protect the IMLS. They still need a lot of signatures and you can uncheck the boxes to receive email updates so you’re not inundated!
I’m sure lots of parents will agree, that while you maybe visited libraries occasionally to borrow books or use their printer, once kids entered the picture libraries suddenly became a vital tool in the weekly rotation of entertaining your kid. Because I’m a physical book reader rather than an e-book reader, I’ve relied on libraries for 95% of my reading over the years, otherwise I would be broke and my bookshelves are already overflowing. I’ve always loved the experience of going to wherever my local library is at the time. I voted at my old local Chicago library in 2 presidential elections and numerous local elections, browsed fiction shelves, checked out hundreds of books, and then eventually took my new baby to story time and watched him lick the free toys engage with other kids and explore bookshelves that weren’t his own for the first time.
Now that he’s a toddler our library visits are frequent and they’re truly an indispensable resource in helping me parent on the days he’s not in school. We rotate between branches depending on their (free!!) activities and story times, and all of them, even the tiny but beautiful one (pictured below) that’s most convenient to us, have a robust kids section with train tables, reading nooks, games and toys. Through the library’s website, we’ve scored free admission to city museums and the butterfly pavilion. When it’s not ideal weather outside and I need to kill an hour and can’t justify spending money on yet another croissant and coffee outing, we’re at the library. Just last week we drove 30 minutes to a suburban one because they have an entire sectioned-off room dedicated to kids (play kitchen, life-size Lite-Brite, trains, story room, play house, etc!) that even has a cafe (!!) and special programming with rotating specialists you can get advice from as your kids play. After a few hours I had to pull Max out kicking and screaming because he wasn’t ready to leave. And this is only touching on how impactful libraries are to kids and parents, not to mention the lifeblood they are to unhoused and unemployed people who rely on their resources as well as their open-door policy. Libraries are essential to communities (duh?!) and now we need to fight for them (UGH OMFG).
Now, onto some of our recent favorite library finds!
*Note: I’m linking to Bookshop.org below because I can’t link to library catalogs, so just copy and paste the titles into your local library website to put on hold. Or if you do purchase through Bookshop I earn a small commission so that’s fine too : )*
The Man Who Didn’t Like Animals by Deborah Underwood, illustrated by LeUyen Pham
A very fun story about well, a man who didn’t like animals. He learns to love them, so much in fact, that he searches for a farm to house them all and (SPOILER ALERT!) a really fun surprise at the end that has no hints at all in the story, is that he turns out to be Mr. MacDonald and in the end it’s the story of how Old MacDonald started his farm. It’s short and engaging and delightful.
Manolo & The Unicorn, by Jackie Azúa Kramer & Jonah Kramer, illustrated by Zach Manbeck
A really lovely story about a boy who loves unicorns even when his classmates don’t believe in them and mock him for it.
The Hound from the Pound by Jessica Swaim, illustrated by Jill McElmurry
A very sweet story about Mary who unknowingly adopts Blue, the pound pack leader, thus attracting the rest of the pound dogs to her house where chaos ensues, romance is found and Mary and the dogs live happily ever after.
We Are the Starlings by Robert Furrow & Donna Jo Napoli, illustrated by Marc Martin
This one may look familiar as it was awarded the New York Times/NY Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Book in 2023. I was already a fan of Marc’s illustration, but I checked the book out for the first time last week and am floored in a jealous way. His work in this book is so stunning and it’s a quick but informative and poetic story about the starlings’ famously beautiful murmurations.
Knight Owl and Early Bird by Christopher Denise
We were already big fans of the original Knight Owl which won a Caldecott a few years and this is the sequel that was released last fall. It’s a very cute story about our beloved Knight Owl now being a seasoned knight having to deal with training a newbie. I personally prefer the first one just because of bedtime reading ease- this one is a bit longer with funny for kids but lengthy and wordy repetitive sequences. Max adored it though!
Library tip: I learned the hard way that for privacy reasons my library doesn’t keep an online history of books I’ve checked out, which is a bummer since we check out so many and I often forget title names and would like to check them out again. But I was able to click a box to give consent to “maintain a reading list” in the settings of my local library website, so maybe that will be the case for you too.
Action items:
Below are a few more helpful resources and action items we can take to protect libraries. This quote below is pulled from a recent post from American Libraries Magazine about the outlook on federal funding threats to libraries, and why it’s so crucial we sign petitions and call our members of congress:
In 2017, President Trump proposed eliminating the IAL program and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, including nearly $200 million in LSTA funding. Congress rejected these efforts repeatedly thanks to vocal library advocates across the country. Now, with control of the House, Senate, and White House, fiscal conservatives are emboldened to cut trillions of dollars from the national budget.
Take action with the American Library Association’s Show Up #ForOurLibraries initiative and send an automated email to congress.
General best practices in how to optimize the library experience so they can have strong data to support more funding.
7 surprising ways the public library can help you save money
Lastly, it would mean so much if you could share this post to spread the word! Thanks for reading. -Carly
That Starlings book is going to be our next pick-up over here! Thank you for the awesome list.
Thank you for sharing this Carly! I feel so strongly about local libraries and cannot imagine how someone would think every penny they receive in funding is not 100% crucial, necessary and the most valuable investment.