Ronan the Librarian

“Ronan was legendary for finding the best pillage,” write siblings Luebbe and Cattie (I Used to Be Famous). When a chest turns out to be filled with books instead of gold, he contemplates using the pages for kindling, toilet paper, or... origami? Though “barbarians didn’t read books,” a picture pulls him in, and Ronan is hooked. Maderna, whose gouache pictures have the visual zing of classic animation, shows her protagonist reading even while he’s raiding. Ronan loots so many books that he decides to open a library, even as a comrade dismisses the biblio-booty as “Too sparkly. Too kissy. Too wimpy.” But an impromptu story hour seeps into the collective barbarian consciousness, and the library becomes so popular that Ronan has to establish some rules, including “swords make terrible bookmarks.” A bushy-bearded fractured history capable of tickling the funny bones of bookworms and reluctant readers. Ages 4–8. [em]Authors’ agent: Tracy Marchini, BookEnds Literary. (Apr.) [/em]