Lila Lou's Little Library: A Gift From the Heart

Written by Nikki Bergstresser and Sejung Kim

Narrated by Fred Brack

Lila Lou loves to read, morning, noon and night. Books are everywhere in her house. Lila Lou has so many books, she makes forts out of them! But when her mom decides that Lila Lou has one too many books, will Lila Lou be forced to get rid of her cherished books?

Colorful illustrations of a determined Lila Lou building her own, not-so-little library help tell the story of how Lila Lou uses creativity and activism to save her books and inspire a community. Included in the book are step by step directions on how to create a home library just like Lila's for the enjoyment of your family.

Lila Lou's Little Library by Nikki Bergstresser carries key concepts of sharing, creativity and community supported by the many advocates of positive parenting solutions. It will sit comfortably on your shelf alongside other books that focus on overcoming obstacles and creating community, like the work of Dan Santat (After the Fall) and Kristen Bell and Benjamin Hart (The World Needs More Purple People).

This book comes with a free Reader's Guide for children. The guide contains reproducible handouts with activities asking children to consider setting, characterize Lila Lou, create their own alliterative phrases and more! The guide is available for free download from the publisher website.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cardinal Rule Press
• Release date: Jan 1, 2024
• ISBN: 9781945369568

Reviews for Lila Lou's Little Library

[vivirielle-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a cute book with bright, vibrant illustrations. It was a sweet story of a little girl who decides to share her beloved books with her community.While this book isn't one that will become a classic picture book that is loved by everyone, children and families who have local free libraries will likely be interested. Book lovers of all ages may also relate to Lila Lou's library.

[hooligansmama · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My kiddos really liked this book. It is definitely a simple read for younger kids but I loved the theme of being creative with what you have to do good for others. My kids loved that she built her own little lending library too.

[todd_d._zittlow · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Thanks to LibraryThing and the Cardinal Rule Press for the Review Copy.This is an unpretentious story about Lila Lou turning something of her own into something that benefits the community and touches on a core activity of readers everywhere - sharing a good book. Share Lila Lou's story with your family!

[dono421846 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A charming book intended for younger readers, so adults will find the story quite bare. For example, from my perspective I don't think the way this Little Library works will actually solve her home book overflow problem since she seems to be getting as many books back as she puts out. Plus, I was curious why the mother thought there were too many books because I had to assume she'd been the one buying them for Lila Lou, right? There seemed to be more background story that we have to imagine, I suppose.Anyway, the brief story is a cute way to introduce children both to the "coolness" of reading (my niece, by contrast, refuses to read, and especially to be seen reading in public because that would be just make her too very unpopular) and to the value of neighborhood little libraries and thus libraries in general. I did think the characterization of how the little library worked was quite unrealistic. I maintain a little library and I don't think anyone other than myself has ever left books in it. But maybe others have better luck and can get some real community activity going?

[loisck_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

So many of our neighbors, governments and communities have constructed "Little Free Libraries" where people share books. It is a great way to share what you have too many of and to find new treasures. Lila Lou's house is overflowing with books which is a good thing until it gets to be too much for her mom. So, Lila Lou constructs her own little library outside of her house to share her books. The story is quite simple and might have had a couple more pages to develop the tale but it does encourage sharing in young people. The illustrations are very colorful and there are Spanish Words "hidden in plain sight" throughout with a glossary in the back. Also, the author includes some suggestions to parents and families before reading and again after. This is a great help to parents who want to do more than just read the story. Good choice for book lovers.

[thornton37814 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a cute picture book about sharing that is certain to resonate with book lovers.