Misadventures of the Monster Librarian

Like tons of others, I gobbled up all things Beverly Cleary when I was a kid; I laughed at Ramona’s antics, wanted a dog like Ribsy, wanted a paper route like Henry Huggins…and maybe had a secret crush on him too. There was something familiar about Cleary’s writing, something that sucked you in and made you feel at home, so I was glad to be returning to her work when I picked up Dear Mr. Henshaw , 1984’s Newbery winner. (Cleary also has two Newbery Honors for Ramona and Her Father (1978) and Ramona Quimby, Age 8 (1982). Having read Dear Mr. Henshaw so long ago I only had a vague memory of what it was about: a boy writing letters to his favorite author, Mr. Henshaw. I didn’t remember the kid angst and emotions that Cleary gracefully portrays through her protagonist, Leigh Botts,who is struggling with being the new kid in town, his parents’ divorce, and a lunch thief—favorite part of the book, the lunch box alarm. I enjoyed rereading this book and the jog down memory lane—thinkin...

I got the idea for this, from Mental Floss . (Some of our choices may overlap, I will provide different reasoning.) Giacoma Casanova - known as the one of the greatest lovers and womanizers of all time, Casanova also worked for 13 years as a librarian for the Count von Waldstein in the chateau of Dux in Bohemia. (Say that 3 times fast). Not only can he find your books...he can read them to you...all sexy like. J. Edgar Hoover - before becoming the sneaky FBI Head, Hoover was a Library of Congress messenger and cataloger in his first job. It was alleged that Hoover was a closeted gay, and cross dresser. Why he made the list…? I am envious of any man who looks better in pumps than me! Melville Dewey – Aside from helping spawn the ALA, creating Dewey Decimal System (still used in 100s of libraries today), founding the American Library Journal, Dewey can also be described in one word, “Player.” We learned about him in our Intro to Ethics class (because of his influence over the library w...