The Loud Librarian

3.8

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Author(s)

Jenna Beatrice

Co-Authors / Illustrators

Erika Lynne Jones

Publisher

Atheneum

Genre(s)

Age Range

Release Date

April 11, 2023

ISBN

978-1665910545

Buy This Book

A little librarian with a larger-than-life voice finds her place in this sweet and uproarious picture book about being true to yourself—no shushing required!

Penelope is perfect for the job of student-librarian. Friendly? Check. Helpful? Check. Book lover? Check. There’s just one snag. Penelope is...LOUD. Bookcases may topple and the ground may quake at the sound of her voice, but Penelope is determined to prove she’s perfect for the job and stay true to herself. Can a little librarian with a big voice find a place where she belongs?

Editor review

1 review

Shhh!

April 29, 2023 (Updated: April 29, 2023)

Overall rating

3.8

Plot

4.0

Characters

4.0

Writing Style

4.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

3.0

When Penelope's class assigns student helper positions, she is very excited to be assigned to help in the library. She's been practicing all year, alphabetizing things, pushing carts, and reading books. The only problem? Penelope is also very loud. She's very helpful to the other students, but struggles to use a "library voice". She's so loud that her voice knocks books from the shelves, pictures from the wall, and eventually destroys the library. Luckily, there is one thing that a strong voice is good for-- reading books aloud! She puts on her own story hour outside and her peers enjoy it. So do the astronauts in space who can hear her even from so far away.

Good Points

Young readers will love Penelope's enthusiasm, and the ridiculousness of the power of her voice. Clearly, she's not loud enough to cause the bricks and mortar of the library to fall apart, but the large font of her words is a good excuse to yell those parts of the text while reading out loud. I can see this creating quite a racket as children try to out yell each other so that they, too, can be heard in space!

Bright colors appear throughout the story; Penelope has a denim jumper with a rainbow skirt and wears bright green glasses, the classroom and library have vibrant posters and decorations, and Penelope's dialogue is accompanied by Batman-style exclamations in red speech balloons, mimicking the sounds of books falling everywhere.

Youg readers who love books and visits to the library will want to pair this with Gassman's Do Not Bring Your Dragon to the Library, Knudsen's Library Lion, and The Not So Quiet Library by Zachariah Ohora. It's a good idea to also talk about how perhaps yelling in the public library isn't the best idea, but I can imagine that Penelope's antics could be a great way to remind children to be quieter; they wouldn't want to bring the library down around their ears!