Tomas and the Library Lady

Bibliography
Mora, Pat. 1997. Tomas and the Library Lady. Illustrated by Raul Colon. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN: 0679904018.

Plot Summary
Tomas never enjoyed their trip to Iowa from Texas that he made every year with his parents during summer. Tomas’ parents are farm workers and pick fruits and vegetables in farms of Iowa during in summer. This summer was special as Tomas finds a local public library and the librarian helps him find books and inspires him to read. Tomas would tell the stories his read to his family. This time when he went back to Texas he had a book presented by the Library Lady to read along his way back home.

Critical Analysis
This is inspiring story is a true story of Tomas Riveria who became a writer, a professor, a university administrator, and a national education leader. The end note gives a brief introduction to Tomas Riveria. The story shows how a librarian can inspire and motivate somebody to read. The library lady would give Tomas a drink of water on a hot day and guide him to find the books he might be interested in reading. This simple gesture was enough to motivate this little boy, Tomas, who was thirsty for both water and knowledge. The dark colors and lines in the illustrations give the story a dreamy look. The illustrations show Tomas right in the middle of the story he is reading showing that Tomas was engrossed in the stories he was reading. The illustrations brilliantly portray Tomas’ love for reading.

A great book to inspire children to read and to show the impact of librarian’s in motivating children to read.