Happy Perfect Picture Book Friday, dear friends. Today’s featured book is about a topic near and dear to my heart – librarians! Some of you might know that my very first real job was in the children’s section of the Midwood Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. And when I heard about this book, I knew it was one that I had to share with you. I connected with author Karen Henry Clark and because she is such a special person, I really connected with her. When you read the post, I think you will connect with her, too. She kind and talented and generous…please make sure you leave a comment and share the post for more tickets in the giveaway hat because she is offering a copy of this beautiful book AND a super hero figure of librarian Nancy Pearl!!!!! YES! There is a super hero action figure of Nancy Pearl, Librarian!!!!

LIBRARY GIRL

Written by Karen Henry Clark

Illustrated by Sheryl Murray

Published by Little Bigfoot

Ages: 4-8

Themes: Librarians, reading, follow your dreams

Synopsis: From Amazon:
Library Girl is the inspiring childhood story of how beloved librarian, author, and Seattle icon, Nancy Pearl discovered her strengths and realized her passion.  It is a loving tribute to the power books and librarians have to transform children’s lives.

Nancy Pearl loved books and spent so much time in her school library that her grade school classmates teased her, calling her “library girl.”  When she discovers her neighborhood public library is open on Saturday, she begins the adventure of her lifetime. There, an inspiring librarian recognizes her abilities, recommends books that ignite her vivid imagination, and provides experiences to bolster her burgeoning self-confidence.  As she loses herself in the books she finds herself in their pages and comes to recognize her strengths. Her self-discovery brings a realization at a young age that she wants to become a librarian so she can help children discover their dreams. 
 
This young girl, Nancy Pearl, grows up to become “America’s Most Celebrated Librarian,” devoting her life to talking about books up and down library aisles, on radio and television, at conferences and colleges around the world. Ultimately, she authors books about books, believing that reading allows people to find dreams of their own . . . with the turn of every page.

Why I Love This Book:
1. It’s a story about having a dream and building it into reality! What an inspiration for every person, child and adult, who reads this book!
2. The text engages the reader from the first page to the last…with a great opening hook and a satisfying ending!
3. The illustrations are…absolutely perfect! They show the emotion and life and light of the main character, Nancy Pearl!

RELATED ACTIVITIES

Most kids love to do arts and crafts. How about making some awesome bookmarks to save their place in the books they are going to get on their library field trip? Check out these amazing ideas: https://artsycraftsymom.com/bookmark-crafts/

That’s right…why not take a field trip to your local library with the kiddos! Libraries are one of the last free great resources for families. Many local libraries have story time programs for little ones and other programs for older kids and even for adults.

And guess what, dear friends! Author Karen Henry Clark stopped by to chat…I asked her how the book came about…where did the idea for the story spring from? And this is what she told me:

KAREN: Nancy Pearl and I became friends when we worked in a Tulsa bookstore in the late 1980s. The event that changed our lives happened when local legendary author Susie Hinton (S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders) entered. We stood at the counter, starstruck, and admitted that we dreamed of becoming authors ourselves. From then on, we believed in each other, against all odds, until we both succeeded.

YES!!! That’s the kind of story we love to hear! Thank you for sharing that, Karen. You and Nancy are so inspiring!!!!

Here a little bit about author Karen:
Karen Henry Clark decided to become an author when she was four and wrote her first book on the living room wall. No publishers appeared. She worked as a bookstore clerk, teacher, college administrator, and copywriter but never forgot that early ambition. While searching for a blue-ribbon subject, rejected picture book manuscripts piled up until she found the right story, Sweet Moon Baby, about the daughter she and her husband adopted from China. Library Girl, about her friend Nancy Pearl, is her second picture book. Karen writes about the simple but magical moments in small-town Ohio life on her blog “Margin Notes” at karenhenryclark.com

Remember folks, if you love a book, you want it to be a success, right? And the only way that happens is if you buy it, review it, tell friends about it, and ask your local library to purchase copies of it. I have a feeling that LIBRARY GIRL is going to be an easy acquisition request for libraries. But you should ask anyway, just in case.

And make sure you leave a comment to be entered in the giveaway of a copy of the book AND an action figure of Nancy Pearl, super hero librarian! If you share on social media, you get extra tickets in the giveaway hat!