or, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Fear and Loathing at a Public Library Reference Desk



Librarian Book Quote

   August 11th, 2009

The Puzzling World of Winston BreenI like recording book quotes about librarians, and found a good one while reading The Puzzling World of Winston Breen.

The book is about a kid who loves puzzles, and gets caught up in a real life treasure hunt. The moral of the book is that there are different kinds of people in the world, who may not always be what they seem, and it's important to be able to work collaboratively to get things done. However, during the story the main character reflects,

If anything could dampen the excitement of going on a treasure hunt, it was having to do it with the town librarian...

The librarian in the book is a minor hero in her own right, so I'll let it slide. But come on, I like treasure hunts. We're not that uninteresting.




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5 Responses to “Librarian Book Quote”

  1. Eric Berlin Says:

    Heh. I, naturally, LOVE librarians and always have. But you can maybe see how a twelve-year-old kid, given the chance to go on a treasure hunt, would prefer to stick with kids his own age. Also, she did kind of freak him out a little in their first encounter…

  2. Brian Herzog Says:

    Oh I know, I was just giving you a hard time. Actually, I really liked the way you made her a normal and interesting person, rather than just a stereotype – so thank you for that. And it’s always nice to see (and encourage) kids researching at the library, both homework and personal interest.

    All in all, I really appreciate the book – perhaps the other moral is that all kinds of secrets can be uncovered in the library (I hope I got the first moral right). And yes, as a professional librarian, their first encounter made my jaw drop.

  3. Liz Says:

    In the spirit of the blog I went to my local library to look for this book, but all (four!) copies had been checked out, so yay for the book striking a chord with readers. (The librarian kindly offered to have one sent from another branch, but I am of the MTV want-it-now generation so I politely declined).

    Seeing as the author was nice enough to come comment, I ended up going to my local bookstore and buying a copy – maybe when I finish it I can give it to my library to put another copy in circulation.

  4. Jayatunga Amaraweera Says:

    HERE IS MY LIBRARY QUITE ;

    BOOK A BOOK
    READ THAT BOOK
    ADD TO YOUR LIFE
    A BRILLIANT LOOK

    JAYATUNGA AMARAWEERA

    FROM SRI LANKA

    SNR.LECTURER IN LIS & FORMER LIBRARIAN OF BPUSL

    DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARY & INFORMATION SCIENCE
    UNIVERSITY OF KELANIYA

  5. Ian Says:

    as far as quotes about Libraries and Librarians go there are none more humorous or plentiful as the ones in the Alcatraz Smedly books by Brandon Sanderson (these are not for everyone! they are random and unceremoniously rude and absolutely hilarious!)