Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Book Week is looming, and the young narrator of this biblio comedy couldn’t be less enthusiastic—every book in the library strikes her as mild-mannered mush. Her opinion of the titular librarian is even less charitable: a hippie dippie–looking literary cheerleader, Miss Brooks has no compunction about donning ridiculous costumes (including a hilarious Very Hungry Caterpillar) to whip kids into a reading frenzy. “I’ll never love a book the way you do,” the girl tells Miss Brooks. But that’s before she discovers a modern classic that tickles her gothic tastes—<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Shrek—confirming Miss Brooks’s belief that everyone “can find something funny and fantastic and appalling in the library.” The heroine makes an indelible presence: Bottner (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Raymond and Nelda) endows her with a voice that drips weltschmerz and recalls a younger version of MTV’s deadpan Daria Morgendorffer. Emberley’s (<EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Mail Harry to the Moon!) slice-of-life cartooning is funny, empathetic, and of-the-moment. This story should persuade hard-to-please children that the perfect book for them is out there. Ages 5–8. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Mar.)

ALA Booklist (Mon Mar 01 00:00:00 CST 2010)

A scowling first-grader in spectacles, a knitted hat, and overalls cannot stand her bubbly librarian, who dresses up in costumes for reading circle, where she introduces books about dragons, Pilgrims, presidents, and Groundhogs, even! For Book Week, everyone in class has to bring a favorite story, and the young girl has only grouchy comebacks for the other kids, who enthusiastically share books about trains (too clickety), fairies (too flowery), cowboys (too yuppity), and dogs (too furry). When the librarian sends the little rebel home with a bagful of books, she does not like any of them until she finds a story about a stubborn, smelly, snorty ogre with warts, William Steig's Shrek, and that makes her grab more books about ogres, just like her. The cartoon-style illustrations extend the comedy in images of the expressive girl and her librarian, who dresses in wild miniskirts, boots, and flowers and is far from the usual stereotype. Lots of fun for avid and reluctant readers alike.

Kirkus Reviews

Guaranteed to be warmly welcomed by librarians everywhere, this paean to the joys of reading will find an enthusiastic audience among kids and parents as well. The first-grade narrator is clearly an iconoclast—and a curmudgeon. She wears the same scruffy overalls and striped hat (pulled down to her eyes) throughout, turns away from reading circle to pursue her own interests and doesn't even bother with a Halloween costume. She looks askance at Miss Brooks, the tall, lanky (and, in her opinion, overenthusiastic) librarian who dresses up for storytime and urges her listeners to share their favorites with the group. After the narrator rejects her classmates' picks, Miss Brooks sends yet another pile home, with similar results. When her remarkably patient mother opines that she is "as stubborn as a wart," however, a seed is planted. A book with warts ( Shrek ) is found, loved and shared with great success. Bottner's deadpan delivery is hilarious, while Emberley's exaggerated illustrations, executed in watercolor and pencil by way of computer, bring her charmingly quirky characters perfectly to life. In a word: lovable. (Picture book. 5-8)

School Library Journal (Mon Feb 01 00:00:00 CST 2010)

PreS-Gr 2 All children need a librarian like Miss Brooks. Her love for reading flows from every fiber of her lanky, quirky self. When not happily immersed in one of the colorful choices from the mountains of books surrounding her, she is dressed as Babar, a Chinese dragon, or a groundhogher puppet-clad arm popping through a hole on the page. She shares stories with a diverse group of young people, and all are captivatedexcept for one. This first-grade narrator believes Miss Brooks is a little too enthusiasticto the point of being "vexing." During Book Week's student presentations, the overall-clad girl with large, round spectacles and a woolen beanie finds the other kids' books "too flowery. Too furry. Too clickety. Too yippity." When her mother observes that she is as "stubborn as a wart," interest is aroused, Shrek is discovered in the pile supplied by the librarian, and the transformation begins. An ogre costume and stick-on warts for the whole class complete the conversion to bibliophile. Children will delight in Emberley's spirited watercolor and ink renderings of literary favorites from The Very Hungry Caterpillar to a Wild Thing. Bottner's deadpan humor and delicious prose combine with Emberley's droll caricatures to create a story sure to please those who celebrate booksand one that may give pause to those who don't (or who work with the latter). Wendy Lukehart, Washington DC Public Library