Customer Reviews

When the Library Lights Go Out (Richard Jackson Books (Atheneum Hardcover))

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

What child doesn't love the library? This charming book explores a library after lights-out with some truly memorable characters. My four-year-old loved the adventure-filled search for a friend that ends in a midnight picnic. Katherine Tillotson's illustrations are beautifully rendered and capture the floppy, goofy fun of the two pals, Lion and Rabbit. A lovely book.

I checked this book out from the library because of the great illustrations hoping it would charm my children. The children showed no interest in the story and reading it anoyed and frustrated me.

The dialog is so poorly done that I think it insults a two-year-old child--it did mine. Even the charming Rabbit couldn't turn this book into a winner in my little daughter's rabbit-loving heart.

"I did," rabbit said. "Oh," lion replied. "Did you see that?" rabbit asked. "See what?" lion replied. This is not a quote from the book but it IS how the book reads. It sounds like a second grader (maybe a first grader) wrote the dialog.

Summary: This one isn't even worth risking a late charge on your library card because you forgot you had it at home and didn't return it on time.

My 4 year old nephew first introduced me to this magical book when he whisked it off the shelf at our local bookstore and said that Lion and Rabbit just had to come home with us. And I'm glad they did! This is simply a charming story to curl up with over and over again. Katherine Tillotson's delightful and whimsical illustrations burst with life on every page. This book has become my nephew's favorite and I look forward to the next McDonald/Tillotson collaboration.

I recently read this book at my local elementary school library. The students were enthralled with the text, and loved Tillotson's charming illustrations. The subject sparked a lively discussion about what happens in the library at night. This book is a must have for all libraries.

I've always wondered about stuff like this... what happens in the library when everyone goes away.... do the mannequins walk around at night in the stores? I used to especially wonder what happened in my classroom at night. Now I know what happens in the library! Charmingly written, with gorgeous illustrations. I totally got into the fantasy of these wonderful puppets coming to life. Try pairing it with The Librarian of Bosra: A True Story From Iraq for a really interesting read aloud.

I bought this book for my daughter who met the illustrator as part of her Early Childhood Education classes. It's great!

I work in a library so check out anything books to do with libraries as am interested to see how it is portrayed, especially to kids. The title When the Library Lights Go Out sort of gave me the impression it was going to be a behind the scenes type look at characters from books coming alive and running amok in the library similar to Toy Story or something. I even thought maybe it would be a rip of The Night at the Museum by Milan Trenc (book which later became a Ben Stiller movie. But no this book is nothing like those books.

What this book is instead is a tale of two puppets (who we're never sure if are the library's puppets for children's storytime or someone's lost property as they start out in the lost property box where you wouldn't store library property) and their search for another puppet. Pretty boring story which also glorifies the destruction and vandalism of library items which means no school or public library is even going to be able to use this as a basic plot and expand upon it with their own story and questions on things you find in the library. The storyline is pretty weak (I mean where do puppets get a torch and food for a picnic from). Illustrations also indicate the author/illustrators haven't been to a library in as long time. Either that or their local library is severely neglected and under funded and they can't discard or update their material. The stack of books they are sitting on at the end contain books which are dog eared and the pages yellow.

Very average book, give it a miss. A much better picture book about set in a library which also has a lion if that's why you picked this up is Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen.