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.

No responses yet

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search for a book by category: