Please Bury Me in the Library

A very short kids' picture book that I read while at a friend's house. It consists of a few poems, mostly having to do with books and reading, and some very colorful and lovely illustrations. I do have to say that the poems aren't exactly of brilliant literary quality -- Shel Silverstein this guy ain't -- but as lifelong bookworm, I found them charming, regardless, especially the title poem. I think this is one I'd like to put in the time machine and send back to child-me, as I'm pretty sure she'd be charmed by it, too.

This silly collection of poetry relating to books is cute and quirky. From poems about actually being buried in the library, to ones about reading on the beach, this collection is whimsical and playful.
I liked how these stories were rhythmic and joyful. They stuck with a common theme, but veered off the path to discuss silly things like changing words in stories. I could see myself sharing this book with my child, and with classes in the future.
In a classroom, I think I'd use this before the first visit to the library. It would be fun to have children work on writing poems about books. We could also use this to learn about the different types of poetry.

I liked and disliked this book for a couple reasons. I liked that the big idea of the book encourages the love of reading and celebrates the value of books and literature. Also, I liked the imaginative theme of the illustrations and thought that they matched the idea that books are magical and whimsical. However, I don’t think the overall theme of the poems is consistent. Some poems are about the love of reading and the idea of escaping from reality through a book. On the other hand, some poems just consisted of nonsense or silly phrases loosely tied to the theme of literature. I thought that the lack of consistency in the message took away from the rest of the poems that contributed to the theme, leaving the reader confused about the show more overall big idea of the book. show less

How can a librarian pass up a poetry book with a title like this? Please Bury Me in the Library is full of book related poems for children. These rhyming poems are fun and silly and entertaining to both kids and adults. The Poem "What if Books had Different Names" was a hit with my own children. I personally loved the poem that the book was titled after. The last few lines "I won't be sad too often, If they bury me in the library, With Bookworms in my coffin." The illustrations are full of color and whimsy.

There are two main reasons why I really enjoyed reading Please Me in the Library. First, I absolutely loved the individual poems that were in the book. They were all different, yet they all talked about the love of reading and the obsession with books. For example, a few titles of poems in the book are; Great, Good, Bad, this is a poem about great, good, and bad books. Another title is Are You a Book Person? This poem states similarities and differnces between and book and a person i.e. books have a spine and people have spines. Second, I loved how the pictures and direction of the words relate to what the poem is about. For example, in the Poem called Necessary Gardens, the picture had a boy sitting on a curved stack of books that show more looks like a stem of a plant. The direction of the words are written vertically creating the effect of a plant as well.
The big idea of this book is to express the importance of reading and how reading broadens the imagination of people. You are not always going to read a great book, sometimes you will read bad books, but that is a part of reading and you grow from it. show less

I enjoyed this collection of fun poems about reading. Please Bury me in the Library has a great message, both informing kids about various genres and instilling the love of books(and poems).

I particularly enjoyed the writing while it introduced some of the genres. When introducing autobiographies, the book uses a poem written about a flea named Otto. The poem Flea-ting Flame talks about how he write his own "Otto-biography".

I also liked this book because it really encouraged the reader to place a greater value on reading and books. Some of the poems, like Necessary Gardens, talk about how valuable reading is. Others, like What if Books had Different Names poke fun at books while still placing value on them.

There's nothing like curling up with a good book, but you have to be careful. Before you know it, a minute turns into an hour, an hour turns into a day, and a day may turn into . . . eternity.
Inspired by the likes of Edward Lear, X. J. Kennedy, and Lewis Carroll, the author of Arithme-Tickle and Scien-Trickery has created a collection of original poems about books and reading that range from sweet to silly to laugh-out-loud funny.