It is School Librarian Day! Great! There should be one, but it should say School Teacher Librarian Day so that it acknowledges the difference between what a librarian does and what a school librarian might do that is different from the usual job description of a librarian.There are masses of picture books celebrating libraries, librarians and their virtues and they start with a very young audience. See Lola at the Library and Carlo and the Really Nice Librarian, but there's not as many that celebrate librarians in a school setting.
My Library has two series and really the school teacher librarian is a bit 'scary' in both.There's The Library Dragon by Carmen Agra Deedy where Miss Lotta Scales is a dragon who protects the Sunrise Elementary School's library books from the children, but when she realises the books are meant to be read, she turns into Miss Lotty, librarian and storyteller. I have a doll of the dragon who when turned upside down and her dress is repositioned turns into Miss Lotty. The students like the doll more than the stories but are happy to borrow the book in order to take the doll! In the sequel Return of the Library Dragon, just as in real schools now, someone orders that the books in the library could go and be replaced by computers. Miss Lotty bursts into a fiery rage in order to ensure that the books will remain and children will be able to READ. This book's story creates 'fiery' discussions among the students.
The other series about a school librarian, Mrs Skorupski and her fourth grade class, starts with Our Librarian Won't Tell Us Anything. It is written by Toni Buzzeo who is a School Teacher Librarian. There are four books in the series covering all aspects of her job. To all my fellow teacher librarians have a wonderful day!
While weeding the shelves, I found another teacher librarian this week in Mary Ann Fraser's series about I.Q. the pet mouse in Mrs Furber's classroom. In I.Q.Goes to the Library the class go off to the school library and Mrs Binder the teacher librarian introduces the class to all that is on offer at the library.
School Libraries Matter
Happy School (or Teacher Librarian) Day to you too! How odd that there are so few books featuring school libraries with teacher librarians. There is one in Our School Fete by Louise Pfanner but she is called "our librarian" and not "our teacher librarian" and she only has a minor part in the story which is not set in a library of course. My beloved Miss Folio is in a public library.
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