Quiet! There’s a Canary in the Library

Don Freeman
Viking Juvenile (2007)
ISBN 9780670062300
Reviewed by Conner Aguren (age 3) and Mom for Reader Views (1/08)

This is a story about a little girl’s imagination that runs wild, literally. Cary loved the library.  She loved it so much that if she was a librarian, she would have a special reading day for the animals and birds. But animals and birds don’t always behave like they should in a library and that is dilemma.

“What do you think of this book?”
“I love it!  I know how to be quiet. I like everything in the book.”
“Did you like the lion?”
“Yes, and the horse and the porcupine.”
“What did you think of the little girl?”
“I love her and I love the canary. I love the elephant and the peacock, the bear, giraffe and the monkeys.”
“Do you think it’s silly to have animals in the library?”
“Yes, I do?
“Why do you think it’s silly?”
“Because I love it.”

Parent’s comments:

I’m also partial to libraries and think the artist did a good job in capturing the expressions of different reader behaviors. “Quiet! There’s a Canary in the Library” also echoes the type of behavior I try to encourage in my son when we visit the library, so it is good for him to see how other people, in this case animals, are expected to behave.

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