Jacob Sager Weinstein

When the evil Doctor Glockenspiel escapes from prison and threatens to destroy all of the world's books if his ransom demand isn't met, the secret agents sent to apprehend him meet with abject failure. It falls to Lyric McKerrigan, Secret Librarian, who always knows just the book for every reader, top save the day...

For anyone who loves books, and believes that librarians are superheroes, Lyric McKerrigan, Secret Librarian is a story you will want to pick up. With plenty of clever show more book-recommendation twists - I chuckled at the many ways Lyric used various tomes to defeat the enemy - and fun, cartoon-style artwork from Caldecott honoree Vera Brosgol, this is a sure-fire winner for every young bibliophile and would-be superhero. show less

Rosa lives in Vienna with her parents and grandmother. Her parents run a store, and the family is happy, but "then the Nazis came, and things changed." Grandma answers Rosa's questions honestly ("The Nazis say Jews are bad. Some people believe them"), and the family survives closing their store by making the shelves into trunks to sell from their home, one at a time, while they wait for a visa to America. But when their visa comes, it's only for three of them: Grandma stays behind, and Rosa show more never sees her again.

Wheeler's delicate watercolor, ink, colored pencil, and block print illustrations convey plenty of feeling and detail without being overly frightening. Nazi soldiers are nearly expressionless; their swastika flags are vivid red. Broken windows, graffiti, and Jews being made to scrub the streets are shown in the illustrations, but not addressed in the text.

See also: Stars of the Night: the Courageous Children of the Czech Kindertransport; Elisabeth by Claire A. Nivola

"Books teach us to think for ourselves," the rabbi said. "But people who think for themselves won't do what the Nazis tell them, so the Nazis have huge bonfires where they burn books....But the stories of our people...these I will not let them burn."

"Even if I'm not there," Grandma said, "you will take my love with you."
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And that's what Rosa brought. show less

Visiting our daughter for her 24th birthday, my wife and I give her a picture book read aloud marathon (Book 3 of 11). This one is the best of the bunch.

The villainous Doctor Glockenspiel has threatened to destroy the world's books. Who can stop him? Read this book aloud and you'll find yourself and your audience shouting the answer way too loud like the chorus of a hit song.

A loving tribute to comic books and librarians who know the perfect book recommendation for every occasion and person.

I don’t normally like to compare other children’s books to Harry Potter, but since this one is based in London and has a ton of zany magical silliness that nonetheless happens to be internally consistent, I’d say the description fits. However, this one is MUCH fast paced. In fact, the plot doesn’t really slow down at all after the (very short) first few chapters. It was almost exhausting! It kept me engaged, though, and I found myself flipping through it pretty quickly. One thing show more that I noticed about this book is that it contains a huge amount of history about London. Many of the monuments and places in the book are in fact real, and I was pleased to find that the author included a few pages in the back with real pictures from the places he wrote about, and a short blurb about how to go visit them. According to the back jacket, the author lives with his family in London, so I believe this must be something of a love story to his home city. I did feel a tiny bit lost without reading the book that this is a sequel to, and I’m not sure if will pick up the first one, though if it’s anything like this one I’m sure it would be a fun read. show less