👍Library Girl (2024)

by Polly Horvath

4Rbooks 4/6 grades 4-7

Amazon 4.6/5 grade level 4-7

Goodreads 3.64

Common Sense Media not yet reviewed

Synopsis

11 years ago, a baby was left in the children's section of the Huffington Library. She was found by 4 librarians who had never married and had no children of their own. They decided to keep her and have her live at the library, each of the ladies taking turns to stay with her and take care of her. They name her Essie, short for Esmeralda.

Essie never went outside, never went to school, and only had a couple of friends who were patrons of the library. The "moms," as Essie called them, decided it was time for Essie to go out of the library and experience the world. She went across the street to have a phosphate as The Chocolate Shop. She got a bike and took rides around the park. Eventually she was given an allowance and allowed to go to the pedestrian mall to shop.

There she meets G.E., a boy who looks just like her. Essie, who has always dreamed of a large family, begins to concoct a story of her and G.E. being twins who were separated at birth. She grows up in a library, G.E. in the department store. Essie shares her thoughts with G.E. and they begin to plan how they can become a family.

It has become harder and harder to keep Essie's secret life secret. Thankfully she has many friends like Oscar and Babs who step in an provide cover for her when Ms. Matterhorn of the library begins to suspect something isn't quite right. Essie can only dream that she will be able to create this large family she has always dreamed of before she is discovered, and her moms are arrested.

Parental Guidelines medium

Essie was abandoned at the library as a baby.

Essie lives in the library, never going outside, for over 11 years.

Essie never goes to school.

The librarians don't believe that all books should be available to all readers, regardless of age or content.

G.E. is a mean brat that enjoys playing tricks on people and lies on a regular basis.

Recommendation

I had high hopes for this book when I first started it. It was an interesting concept that I thought could lead to many fun situations and plot twists. Unfortunately, I was left disappointed when I finished.

I think the problem with this book was that too many of the main characters weren't very likeable, and some you just wanted to go away. I was enjoying this novel for about 3/4 of the way, but I wasn't satisfied with the ending (though the postscript style finishing touches were nice). The end saw the actions of the characters come to a head, and while there were positive outcomes, there was a lot of mean and emotionally troubling drama to get there.

This book is fine as an individual or small group read. I'm not sure there's enough interest here for a classroom. There are opportunities for discussions about ways to learn, experiences versus reading, what makes a family, and forgiveness versus holding grudges.

While I bought this book off of Amazon, I originally found it at Fabled bookstore in Waco, Texas.