26th April Bookmobile Day

Bookmobiles, or vehicles that transport free library books, is a service that has been in use since the early 19th century. The American School Library was one of the first travelling libraries. They would travel to rural towns and small communities and give children the chance to read new books. 

I don't know how many bookmobiles there are in Australia, but I know some rural council areas do still have a mobile library service.

When I read about this day I looked in my library catalogue and was absolutely stunned to see that there were ten books:

• Waiting for the Biblioburro by Monica Brown

Ana loves stories. She often makes them up to help her little brother fall asleep. But in her small village there are only a few books and she has read them all. One morning, Ana wakes up to the clip-clop of hooves, and there before her, is the most wonderful sight: a traveling library resting on the backs of two burros-all the books a little girl could dream of, with enough stories to encourage her to create one of her own.
 

• Biblioburro A True Story from Columbia  by Jeanette Winter

Luis loves to read, but soon his house in Colombia is so full of books there's barely room for the family. What to do? Then he comes up with the perfect solution—a traveling library! He buys two donkeys—Alfa and Beto—and travels with them throughout the land, bringing books and reading to the children in faraway villages. 

• My Librarian is a Camel by Margriet Ruurs

Why would librarians go to the trouble of packing books on the backs of camels or driving miles to deliver books by bus? Because, as one librarian in Azerbaijan says, "Books are as important to us as air or water!" 

• Miss Dorothy and her Bookmobile by Gloria Houston

The true story of Miss Dorothy, an enterprising and dedicated librarian who drove a bookmobile to bring books to her neighbours in Appalachia.

• The Library Bus by Bahram Rahman and Gabrielle Grimard

Inspired by Afghanistan's first library bus. It is still dark in Kabul, Afghanistan when the library bus rumbles out of the city. There are no bus seats--instead there are chairs and tables and shelves of books. And
there are no passengers--instead there is Pari, Mama's library helper. The girls they visit are learning to write English from Mama.

• Ready to Fly  by Lea Leon and Jessica Gibson

The true story of Sylvia Townsend, an African American girl who falls in love with ballet after seeing Swan Lake on TV. Although there aren’t many ballet schools that will accept a girl like Sylvia in the 1950s, her local bookmobile provides another possibility. A librarian helps Sylvia find a book about ballet and the determined seven-year-old, with the help of her new books, starts teaching herself the basics of classical ballet. 

• That Book Woman by Heather Henson and David Small

A moving tale that honours a special part of American history—the Pack Horse Librarians, who helped untold numbers of children see the stories amid the chicken scratch, and thus made them into lifetime readers.

• Moose's Library Bus by Inga Moore

Moose recycles an abandoned bus from the junkyard and makes a mobile library – a book bus! Now the whole neighbourhood can experience the magic of stories together. 

• Library Lil by Suzanne Williams and Steven Kellog

The town's residents are too busy watching TV, which to her ""was an evil that ranked right up there with poison ivy and mosquitoes."" When a storm knocks out the electricity for two weeks, the resourceful bibliophile hooks the population on reading as she pushes a bookmobile (whose battery is ""deader than a pickled herring"") through town, using muscle power.

• The Book Boat's In  by Cynthia Cotten and Frank Lessac 

This nostalgic picture book is based on the 1800s book boat that traveled along the Erie Canal.   

And one to look for that I haven't seen Colourful Mondays A Bookmobile Spreads Hope in Honduras  by Nelson Rodriguez

An empowering story about the impact of literacy in underprivileged communities, based on a real bookmobile program in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Luis's favourite day of the week is Monday, the day the bookmobile comes to his neighbourhood.