CLIP Review: The Lonely Book

Author: Kate Bernheimer
Illustrator: Chris Sheban
Ages: 5-8

Wandering through a library is one of my favorite pastimes. It is also somewhat frustrating as I feel the need to read everything in sight while knowing it's simply impossible.  And then it happens - I come across the perfect book - the one that is just what I've been looking for. I clutch it tightly and sigh with deep satisfaction. That its cover is worn, a few pages torn, doesn't matter.

Which brings us to little Alice...

As her eyes fell upon the moss-green book, Alice barely noticed the faded cover. She was enchanted by the girl standing under the toadstool in the forest. Turning its pages, she sighed, knowing this was the book for which she had been searching.  Little did Alice know that the shabby little book had been longing to be read again; that because of its appearance it had not been checked out in years and had become lonely.  As Alice delighted in reading her new-found treasure, so the lonely book found joy in being rediscovered.  Alice read at night by the light of the moon, then slept with it under her pillow, the better to dream about it.  She shared her beloved book the next week at the library for the special Listening Room event. In her excitement she forgot the book, but upon returning to the library realized it was lost.  Now the loneliness was felt by both Alice and her precious book. 

How Alice and the lonely book are reunited is both magical and tender.  The last sentence of the book is, "And they lived happily ever after, of course."