Chapter Books - Here Lies the Librarian

Here Lies the Librarian by Richard Peck 2006

Yeah!!! Richard Peck has a new chapter book out. I haven’t had a chance to read it, but will. Even better is that the story’s setting is right here in little ole’ Indiana. I have seen mixed age recommendations and since I haven’t read it yet, you’ll have to take your chances. Some have it listed as 5th grade and up. Others the 9 to 12 year-old bracket, while another has it as 11 to 15. The main character is 14, but the other personalities in the story are generally older. However, The Westing Game was similar in its characters age range and it had a wide age appeal.

From Publishers Weekly: “Set in 1914, an era when women hobbled their skirts, and automobiles with "an electric self-starter" were still a novelty ("Crank from your seat, not from the street," went the Cadillac motto), the novel traces the eventful 14th summer of narrator "Peewee" McGrath, an orphaned tomboy who would rather help her brother tinker with cars than go to school. Both Peewee and her brother, Jake, long for the day when a road is built through their Indiana township, bringing business to their makeshift auto repair shop. In the meantime, four young librarians arrive from Indianapolis and stir up some dust-they're bent on spreading culture and reviving the long defunct local library. Irene, their ringleader, teaches Peewee a thing or two about being a lady. Her coworker Grace, the daughter of an automobile mogul, wheedles smiles and conversation out of painfully shy Jake. The story culminates at the county fair where Irene, Grace, Jake and Peewee join forces and skills to compete in the township's first annual road race. Offering plenty of action and a cast of larger-than-life characters, the book pays tribute to the social and industrial revolution, which awakens a sleepy town and marks the coming-of-age of an unforgettable heroine.”