Friday, March 17, 2017

Lucy's book by Natalie Jane Prior illustrated by Cheryl Orsini




Before you read my book from today please take a look at The Lonely Book which is the perfect partner for Lucy's Book.



Lucy visits the public library and, from the huge book selection available, the librarian Mrs Bruce selects the perfect book.  Lucy reads it all day and night over and over again.  Tilly borrows it the next week and then Lucy borrows it the following week and discovers it is full of arrowroot crumbs. The book passes from hand to hand and is even returned to the school library by mistake. Along the way the book does suffer some rough treatment :

eaten by a baby
taken to the beach
splashed at the zoo
made into a banana sandwich
and much more



Then one day after "Lucy had shared her book with all her friends and learned it off by heart ... the next time she went to the library, her book was gone."

The family try to buy another copy, but like many precious and favourite books, it is now out of print. They can't even find a copy on the internet!

Yes there is a happy ending but I won't tell you how Lucy and her book are finally reunited.

Here is a set of questions you might use with this book.  We often talk with our youngest students about book care.  There is so much to discuss in Lucy's book and the soft pastel illustrations will make great discussion prompts.

I love the way Lucy shares her special love of this book with a variety of friends who also enjoy it.  I also love the librarian Mrs Bruce and her colourful inviting library. One funny moment for a Teacher Librarian is seeing how expensive the book becomes when Lucy finally tracks it down.  Last night I was looking to replace an old book in our library.  It is a paperback published over 25 years ago.  The only copies I found cost over $50.

Natalie Jane Prior has a beautiful web site.  She says this is where the idea came from :

Like anyone who’s ever worked on a circulation desk, I’d always wonder what happened to the books when they went out the door.



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