Friday, August 25, 2017

Books! Books! Books!

 Books! Books! Books! Explore the Amazing Collection of the British Library. Mick Manning. Illustrated by Brita Granstrom. 2017. Candlewick. 48 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: Welcome to the greatest library in the world! We're going to take you on an amazing tour of its treasures--including some that are so rare they are kept under lock and key.

Premise/plot: Mick Manning gives readers a tour of the British Library in his newest picture book, Books! Books! Books! The tour stops include: the St. Cuthbert Gospel, the Lindisfarne Gospels, Beowulf, the Magna Carta, Geoffrey Chaucer, the Klencke Atlas, Lady Jane Grey's Prayer Book, the cookbook collection, the medical book collection, William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, the Bronte Sisters, the Brothers Grimm, Charles Dickens, Leonardo da Vinci, Oliver Goldsmith, Charles Darwin, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the newspaper collection, George Frideric Handel, and Sherlock Holmes. As you can see, the tour includes individual works, genre collections, and author collections. This picture book for older readers actually has a narrative flow to it--a conversational flow to it. It is packed with facts and details. But it's not dry or boring.

My thoughts: I definitely enjoyed reading this one. It probably wouldn't surprise anyone if I said I loved, loved, loved it. I found it informative and fascinating. If you love books about books, it's a must-read! I also like the fact that by reading it one can get an idea of what kinds of special collections libraries can have.

It is a picture book for older readers. I might even say it's more for adults than kids.

© 2017 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

3 comments:

Sim Carter said...

That sounds kind of lovely! You've inspired me to look it up online. Happy British Isles Friday.

Joy Weese Moll said...

I definitely want to read this one before my next trip to England. We didn't make it to the British Library last time, but I'm not going to miss it again!

Carol said...

Nice! Love the sound of this.