Book Review: The Night Librarian
What’s it about?
Turner and Page are twins, but they are not exactly alike. Page is adventurous, rebellious and the leader. Turner is bookish, reserved,cautious and not
always sure that what is his sister wants to do is what should be done. But when Page manages to abduct their father’s most prized book to take it to the library and find out how much it’s worth, he gets caught up in it, weather he likes it or not. He’d like to know how much the book that they their father feels is more important than them is worth. But when the book mysteriously disappears at the library shortly before the library closes, he finds himself all wrapped up in the search. Of course, the search can’t be a simple, uneventful affair. Nope! Instead, the twins learn about the magic that the library holds, allowing characters to take a break from their stories by coming out of their books and into our world. Now the twins find themselves searching a closed library with fictional characters including some that could be deadly to come face to face with.
Favorites:
Favorite Character: I liked Turner. He was the character sharing the story, so maybe that helped. I liked that he loves books and stories. I like that he thought through things rather then just jumping in.
I also liked the librarian, Ms. Literati. She was just one of those adults who knows that shenanigans are happening but let’s it happen. There was a part of her that enjoyed the chaos that was going on around her. She embraced the twins with a comradery and affection that was fun to watch play out.
Favorite Character: Mr. Keljik was my least favorite. He was just that boss that is anything but understanding when work is affected by lack of staff and situations beyond the control of the people employed to work in that department, which annoys me. Plus, there was just something about him that I didn’t like or trust right from the start.
Favorite Part/thing: My favorite thing about this book was all of the book quotes sprinkled in and getting to meet fictional characters like Alice, Tinkerbell, Peter Pan, ect. outside of their books where they get to be themselves, which isn’t always the way one may expect them to be. It read is kind of a love letter to literature and stories which I was all there for.
Favorite Quotes: The Prologue had me hooked. I knew I was going to love the book when I read it. It’s more images then words but the words are: “ Magic builds in books. Not surprising. They’re packed with dreams, hopes and inspiration. The older the books and the more books around… The greater the magical pressure. Imagine living the same scene over and over again for eternity. ultimately these force… Lead to emotions. Which is why…the world needs… Night librarians.” (pg. 1-9)
Other Thoughts:
One day, while on one of our family trips to the library, my middlest picked up this book. On the way home she started to read it and, within minutes said, “Mom, this is very much a mom book! You’re going to want to read this!” Thankfully (and not at all surprisingly), she wasn’t wrong. She says she knew I’d like it when she saw that the twins’ names were Page and Turner and their last name is Reed. I loved this! But what I loved most was that, like I said before, the book has a love letter feel to it, celebrating so many classic stories, different genres and characters. It was fun to pick out what stories I knew and explore what stories I didn’t know yet. I enjoyed meeting the characters from books and seeing the personalities that Mr. Lincoln attributed to them as sometimes they were not at all what I would have expected.
I think we also need to talk about the art. I have mixed feelings about the art. One the one hand, the panels are kind of monochromatic. That’s not my favorite style, as, for me, it’s more difficult to see the details and make out the images and I think the art in The Night Librarian’s art is deserving of being seen and appreciated. On the other hand, I appreciated that the colors reflected the environment and the feel of environment. When things were scary and dangerous, the colors were reds. When they were in the dark basement, the colors were blues and dark. So, while I liked the art, I do wish that there had been more colors used to help further define the art but I do understand why it’s done the way it is.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I thought it was fun and I love the premise. I hope that this becomes a series in which we get to meet more characters from other books and go on adventures with them in the future.
My Ratings:
I give this book a
6
out of
10 books
But that’s just what I thought. What did you think? Did you dislike the way some of the book characters were portrayed? Did you feel like it was a love letter to literature like I did? Let us know in the comments.
