In honor of National Library Week, here is Part II in my list of amazing Young Adult library scenes! If you missed Part I, you can read it here.
By REBECCA, April 11, 2012
Secret Diaries Series, Janice Harrell
Joanna is new to town and to school, where she is swept up in a clique with a dangerous secret and the boy of her dreams, Penn Parish. Joanna is rather humorless, but a loyal patron of the local library. Indeed, she finally meets cute with Penn while procuring her new library card. Check out my review here!
There are several delightful library numbers in Glee, but my favorite is the first time Rachel and Jesse meet. I find him hilarious: “I remember when I used to get nervous.”
Among Others, Jo Walton
Morwenna Phelphs has just moved to a boarding school in England from her home in Wales. In an attempt to cope with the recent death of her twin sister and her feelings of isolation, Mori is blazing through the science fiction and fantasy sections of every library and bookstore she can find. Finally, in the local library in the small town near school, she finds a science fiction book group that saves her from her isolation at school.
Samantha Mathis makes Christian Slater tongue-tied in a very un-Hard Harry way. She’s working the circulation desk at the school library when he checks out Lenny Bruce’s How To Talk Dirty and Influence People. “Now you’re in trouble,” she tells him, and he panics. “You owe 25 cents.” Talk hard, Christian Slater!
Mary Anne and the Library Mystery (The Baby-Sitters Club Mysteries #13), Ann M. Martin
Good girl Mary Anne is participating in the Stonybrook library’s Readathon (of course she is)! But someone sets a fire in the library. Who would want to burn down a library? (I mean, except Julius Caesar. Oh my god, when I think of the Library of Alexandria burning down it makes me want to die.)
The Juniper Game, Sherryl Jordan
Dylan and Juniper are experimenting with telepathy (awesome). When they realize that it’s actually working, Juniper is sending Dylan pictures of the library. Check out Tessa’s review of The Juniper Game here.
Lireal, Garth Nix
Nothing has ever made me want to be a librarian more than the badassness of the Second Assistant Librarian in the Great Library of Clayr. “The Stilken will drink your blood and grow stronger from it. Then it will creep out into the lower reaches of the Library, emerging every now and then to capture librarians, to take them one by one, feasting on their flesh in some dark corner where the bones will never be found. It will find allies, creatures bound even deeper in the Library, and will open doors for the evil that lurks outside” (156).
Un Lun Dun, China Miéville
In Un Lun Dun, Margarita Staples is “Extreme Librarian. Bookaneer.” When our hero, Deeba, climbs a “storyladder,” she finds herself in Wordhoard Abyss of UnLondon where she meets Margarita Staples. Margarita tells her about the Bookaneers and how they venture through the Wordhoard Abyss to hunt and retrieve manuscripts: “Sometimes we’d be gone for weeks, fetching volumes . . . There are risks. Hunters, animals, and accidents. Ropes that snap. Sometimes someone gets separated” 157).
P.J. gets locked in the reading room of the library alone at night. Four storybook characters come to life to tell their stories and, finally, help her escape. Ok, so I loved this movie as a kid. I haven’t seen it in probably 20 years, and when I went to go look it up I totally couldn’t find it. Then I learned it’s actually an episode of a show called CBS Library, which made animated and live action versions of children’s books and ran from 1979 to 1983. Check it out, with the original opening here:
And, of course, no list of memorable library scenes could possibly be complete without . . .
Every scene that takes place in the library is genius! My favorite, however, is the scene when Buffy and Giles first meet in the library:
Giles: Can I help you? Buffy: I was looking for some, well, books. I’m new. Giles: Miss Summers? Buffy: Good call! Guess I’m the only new kid, huh? Giles: I’m Mr. Giles. The librarian. I was told you were coming. He heads around behind the counter. Buffy: Great! So, um, I’m gonna need ‘Perspectives on 20th Century—’ Giles: (interrupting) I know what you’re after! With a big grin on his face he pulls out a large old book with the word “VAMPYR” written in gold leaf on the front cover. Buffy looks up at him with an uneasy gaze. Buffy: That’s not what I’m looking for. Giles: Are you sure? Buffy: I’m way sure.
So, there you have it. Have I missed any of your favorite Young Adult library scenes? Let me know in the comments!
