Library Girl: How Nancy Pearl Became America’s Most Celebrated Librarian

PreS-Gr 2–This picture book biography draws a straight line from Nancy Pearl’s childhood love of books, her school library, and her discovery of the public library to her long career as a librarian. As a girl, Pearl “loved reading more than recess,” and other kids made fun of her. She found refuge in the school library, and then the public library, where two librarians supplied her with books about horses and even provided her first readers’ advisory platform, asking her to give a talk to other kids about horse books. A bicycle crash en route to her talk provides a moment of drama, but a kind milkman helps Nancy arrive in time. The illustrations are in dreamy, soft pastel colors, with scenes emerging from books or her imagination in translucent blues and white. Back matter includes photographs and an author’s note, awards, and books by Pearl, but no bibliography, time line, or sources for quotes.