GOOD NIGHT, LIBRARY

Bedtime
stories are plentiful, but this one is anything but tender and restful.

In
rhyming verse two kids say good night to all kinds of library items. “Good
night, library; / Darkness falls. / It’s sleepy time / For these great walls. //
Good night, library. / You must be tired / From all the learning / You’ve
inspired.” The litany of items the text wishes good night includes poetry and
prose, plots, puppet stages, computers, carpet squares, fairy tales,
characters, filing cart, and more. This being a fairly modern library, they
also bid good night to board games and comic books, but if there is a 3-D
printer or makerspace, it goes unremarked. The apparent intent of this homage
to libraries is well and good, but the visual execution lacks charm. The
cartoonish illustrations are garish double-page spreads that bleed off the
pages, and the intensity of the colors makes the pages appear crowded.
Exaggeratedly bug-eyed kids act out the rhymes; they are a diverse lot. The
librarian, a white woman, wears her hair in a bun but otherwise looks pretty
darn hip; she wears a droopy gray sweater, black jeans, and pumps.

What
could have been a calming bedtime story featuring the variety of things found
in a library is spoiled by abrasive artwork. (Picture book. 6-8)