.png)
In this month of hugs, kisses and kindness, Clover’s happy to suggest books with a “Sweet on Reading” theme. The hive’s exhilarating February Picks highlight the joy found in libraries, hallowed places of knowledge and peace.
Walk into a library and thrill to the wonderful array of books on the shelves, old favorites and new tales too, pages and chapters sure to provide pleasure, taking us to faraway places or on journeys within ourselves.
While chocolate and candy hearts are certainly yummy, a good book can carve a place in our hearts and stay with us forever.
Page On, good Buddies!
The Community Literacy Foundation, in partnership with Neighborhood Reads and with support from its sponsors, provides these books to 37 school and public libraries in Washington, Union, Pacific, St. Clair and surrounding communities.
Learn more at CommunityLiteracyFoundation.org.
Youngest Read
Piper Waterstone is a massively addicted bookworm—the squirrel is nuts about books, but doesn’t want to share them with anyone. Piper learns a valuable lesson in “All the Books,” a goodie that offers a nice nod to libraries, written by Hayley Rocco and illustrated by John Rocco.
Their collaboration gifts readers with a humorous story laced with serious overtones featuring a cast of adorable animals, long on cute and clever.
Piper is pleased as punch to own books, a stash she’s been collecting for years—and to have them at the ready. Wherever Piper goes, her books go with her, thanks to a basket on her gaily painted bike. But as Piper logs miles and reads, problems arise. She keeps buying books until her collection grows unruly and heavy, forcing her to accommodate the extra poundage with a pull-behind wagon.
On Piper’s “worst day ever” the weather is Piper’s downfall when the bike and wagon tip in the rain and all the books get wet. But wait, a savior waits in the wings to rescue Piper, a soft-spoken, wise mole who introduces Piper to a place where she can have access to “all the books.” Check out this uplifting, fun story at your library.
Middle Read
Sunrise Elementary School had a heck of a “big problem” with their new hire. Miss Lotta Scales was an abomination. She didn’t want the students to check out books for fear they’d get them dirty and ruled the library with an iron fist. Kids quaked in fear at the very idea of storytime, an emotion that soon spread to the teachers and principal, “who just fanned the flames.”
It took the grit of one little girl to turn the tide and calm the fiery countenance of Miss Lotta Scales, a child who dispensed her goodwill with a bookish lap-sit and touch of love.
This classic is sure to be embraced by young readers, thanks to its wild and wholly plot and outrageous illustrations by Michael P. White.
Oldest Read
“Jella Lepman and her Library of Dreams” is the inspiring story of a woman who spent her life giving life to the International Youth Library, established in Germany in 1949, after the country was decimated in World War II.
Award-winning author Katherine Paterson details Lepman’s energy, tenacity and heart in a beautifully written book graced with actual photographs and nostalgically detailed illustrations by Sally Deng, who tucks amongst her illustrations beloved storybook characters, like Winnie the Pooh, Pinocchio, and others.
Lepman’s forever-goal was to “promote international understanding through children’s books,” to feed the minds and souls of children deprived of books during the war. To do so, she had to go back to Germany after leaving there as a Jew in 1936, taking her children to Italy, then England, where they found refuge. Imagine the concern she must have felt going back to her homeland, so badly bombed and in ruins she hardly recognized it.
As a child, Lepman dreamed of becoming a concert pianist, but instead pursued her passion for books. At 17, she’d already made her mark, opening a reading room with books in several languages for the children of immigrants working in the factories in Stuttgart. Soon, however, books fell out of favor with the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party. Lepman left Germany as the unrest grew, eventually becoming a newspaper editor for a British publication, a position unusual for a woman at the time. In her career, Lepman gained notoriety that helped pave the way for her goals to be achieved.
Readers of all ages are sure to relish “Jella Lepman and her Library of Dreams,” the story of a woman who never took no for an answer in her drive make books accessible to children the world over.
Written by Chris Stuckenschneider.
Copyright 2025, Community Literacy Foundation.
Comments