Drawing on first-hand experiences from six years of professional work as a librarian in high-poverty neighborhoods of Washington, DC, as well as interviews and research, the author highlights the national problems that have existed in libraries since theywere founded-racism, segregation and class inequalities.

At first glance, Josh Hanagarne seems an improbable librarian. He stands 6'7", competes in strongman contests, and was diagnosed in high school with Tourette's syndrome. But books are his first love-Josh's earliest memories involve fantastic adventures between the pages of Gulliver's Travels and a passionate infatuation with Fern from Charlotte's Web. Everything in Josh's life-from his Mormon upbringing, to finally finding love, to learning to control...

Eleven-year-old Pearl Moran cannot imagine life without the historic but under-utilized branch of the New York Public Library where she was born (in the Memorial Room) and where her single mother works as the circulation librarian; the other librarians, the neighborhood people, the raccoons, and most of the 41,000 plus books all form the structure and essence of her life--but when someone cuts off the head of the library's statue of Edna St. Vincent...

"From the author of MONSTER TRUCK and STARRING CARMEN comes a gorgeous and lyrical story about Pura Belpré, a Puerto Rican librarian who changed the world"--