:
In this
biography, readers learn how Anne Carroll Moore dreamed big dreams for herself,
but ended up giving a piece of herself to children. Ms. Moore was a champion
for creating child friendly library spaces. Ms. Moore inspired librarians to
put away the quiet signs and free books from their locked-up shelves for
children to enjoy. She encouraged librarians to change their mindsets and allow
children to borrow books.
APA Reference of the Book:
Pinborough, J. (2013). Miss
Moore thought otherwise. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Impressions:
I
found this story to be delightful and inspirational. I enjoyed reading about Ms. Moore’s life, and
how she grew up with big dreams and aspirations despite the social norms of the
nineteenth century. I found it
interesting that she wanted to be a lawyer like her father, but instead became
a librarian. A career that was just as equally male-dominated at the time. Ms.
Moore had dreams of traveling, and eventually did travel so that she could
teach other librarians how to create reading rooms and library programs for
children.
Reviews:
From Bulletin of the
Center for Children’s Books-
For most children listening to a story in a public or school
library, the library setting itself is a pleasant but unremarkable part of
life, and book borrowing an equally unremarkable entitlement. Pinborough's
picture-book biography of early twentieth-century librarian Anne Carroll Moore
may nudge them out of their complacency, describing the children's literacy advocate's
innovations at a time when free public [End Page 388] libraries were just coming into
their own, and children's materials and services were a pretty radical concept.
Although Moore's story has its points of interest for a young audience—studying
law, putting her own career plans on hold to help raise her nieces, moving off
to the big city to learn librarianship—it's the nascent field of children's
librarianship that will command interest. Locked bookcases and looming
"silence" signs were giving way to more kid-friendly environs, and
under Moore's watch, whole children's departments were designed and supplied,
from child-scaled furniture to reading clubs and guest readers and
entertainers. Atwell's cheery, doll-like figures and joyful colors are a good
match for the woman who insisted that children's library space should be
vibrant and stimulating. Expect giggles when kids spot the black-suited,
bun-coifed, finger-wagging old-school harridan who "did not let children
touch the books, for fear they would smudge their pages or break their
spines" and hope you don't hear any unflattering comparisons. A historical
note and list of sources is included.
Bush, E. (April 2013). [Review
of Miss Moore Thought Otherwise by Jan
Pinborough.] Bulletin of the Center for
Children’s Books 66(8), 388-389. Retrieved from Project Muse at http://libproxy.library.unt.edu:2124/article/502740
In the Library:
This book would make a great resource to teach about the past and
present, and how technology and learning bring change. The pictures are a good representation of the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Children can see how cities, clothes, and
libraries have changed over the centuries. The
students could pick an interest area – clothes, cities, transportation, buildings,
and research how these items have changed over decades and centuries.
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