1. Bibliography
Peck, Richard. 2007. Here Lies the Librarian. Puffin: New York. ISBN 978-0545046619.
2. Plot Summary
PeeWee McGrath lives with her older brother Jake and works in the garage with him in 1914. PeeWee acts and dresses like a boy and fully plans on working on cars for the rest of her life. That is until four women show up at their garage one day and changes everything for PeeWee. The four women want to become the librarians in the town library and cause quite a stir in the small town. PeeWee befriends the women and begins to realize that being female is not the worst thing that could happen. She even gets her first taste of driving a new car. Life becomes more exhilirating with these four women in her life.
2. Impressions
I bought this book because it was about a librarian. I had never read a book by Richard Peck. I was pleasantly surprised by this book. The story was lighthearted. There were many times where I laughed out loud. The characters in the book had such personality. Peck really draws the reader into this small town and into the lives of the characters.
Most young adults will enjoy reading this book. The story is humorous and fun to read. Young girls will be particularly drawn to this story as it shows young women how being a strong, vocal woman does not mean giving up your femininity. The four librarians in this story are very strong women and the most feminine women that PeeWee has ever seen. This is an issue that she struggles with throughout the story. How to meld the expectations that come with being a woman with the strong bond she feels with her brother and her love of working on cars. While girls today don't have the same problems to deal with, they will enjoy reading a story about one of the early warriors in the war between the sexes.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story. It was an easy and fun read. Richard Peck does a superb job of bringing this story to life. While older teens may find this a little young for their tastes, it is a not to be missed book. I will certainly be reading more from this author.
3. Reviews
Reviews taken from http://www.amazon.com/Here-Lies-Librarian-Richard-Peck/dp/0142409081/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228173591&sr=8-1
From School Library Journal Grade 6-9–Richard Peck seems determined to create his own sub-genre: nostalgic fiction. Just like A Long Way from Chicago (Dial, 1998) and A Year Down Yonder (Dial, 2000), this title (Dial, 2006) is a keeper. Set in rural Indiana, circa 1914, tomboy PeeWee works with her adored older brother Jake. The automobile is replacing the horse and buggy and the young brother and sister run a fledgling gas station. When a tornado rips through town and tears up the defunct library, the town elders are shamed into re-opening it. Irene Ridpath and three of her sorority sisters fresh out of library school arrive and set the small town on its ear. Motherless PeeWee has never encountered women with such sophistication, and she begins to re-examine her own femininity. Jake is determined to win a rough and tumble automobile race, but when hes injured, PeeWee jumps in and finishes the event. Peck is a master at creating enchanting characters—even his dead librarian has personality. The setting is vivid—listeners can almost hear the sound of those first automobiles chugging up the road. Narrator Lara Everly brings the story to life with great charm. Listeners will enjoy this well-done audiobook that weaves in facts about rural life in the early 20th century, feminism, and automobile history.–Tricia Melgaard, Centennial Middle School, Broken Arrow, OK Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist Gr. 5-8. Stubborn, fearless, and loyal, 14-year-old Peewee (Eleanor) McGrath, who dresses like a boy, lives with her brother, Jake, in Indiana, "way out in the weeds." Together, they run a struggling garage, where Jake is building a racecar. It's 1914, and the electric self-starter has made automobiles more accessible to women. One day, four female drivers, library students all, arrive in a Stoddard-Dayton in need of repair; later, they return to reopen the town library. With these young women as role models, Peewee comes to realize that being female and being independent aren't mutually exclusive. Peck's one-liners, colorful physical comedy, and country dialect, prominent in most of his recent novels, are great as usual. And his characters, if not fully developed, are wonderfully quirky. Yet even with some exciting scenes of old-time dirt-track racing, the pace lags, and the story is choppy. Young fans of Danica Patrick, today's "Queen of the Road," may want to read this, but it will probably be librarians who'll have the most fun. Peck recounts an incident in an endnote in which one of the characters appears at the Indianapolis 500 with Janet Guthrie; unfortunately, there's not enough explanation to know whether or not it's all true. Stephanie Zvirin Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
