Even with a steady flow of visitors slipping past her through the front door and into the living room of the Littlefield hub, local children’s librarian Juliette Loebl maintained full command of the room. The couches and floorspace in front of her were filled with children bursting with energy, itching for a great story.
Juliette brought with her a selection of silly, interactive books from her episode of Brilliant Detroit and the Detroit Public Library’s Top Ten Books series. The students immediately recognized the first book despite its bare cover. A Book with No Pictures, a bold title for a book claiming to be a hit among youngsters. This genius book from actor turned author BJ Novak leverages a reader’s obligation to recite all the words on a page by including many goofy-sounding or made-up words. As Juliette became a robot monkey, saying “glarp,” “glorp,” and “blueberry pizza” among other ridiculous phrases, the students cheered, jumping out of their seats to shout out the words along with the visiting librarian. She barely finished reading the book when the students exclaimed, “read it again!”
As tempting as a reread was, Juliette came equipped with a whole bag of books and brought out the dynamic title Red Car, Green Car by Roger Priddy. The students loved guessing the next color of the car and clamored to be the one to pull a tab to transform the page. There must have been some veteran readers in the crowd or special predictive powers, as many of the youth guessed each color change perfectly.
Juliette pulled another title from her bag of books and asked the children to lay down a beat, patting their laps to set a rhythm as she sang the words to Pete the Cat’s Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin. With each button that fell off Pete’s coat, the children eagerly shouted out the number of buttons that remained. Four! Three! Two! One! Zero! And back up to one as his hidden button was revealed – can you guess where it was hiding?
Each book was seemingly more interactive than the last. Juliette’s next selection was a classic whodunit, or should we say, who wore it – Polar Bear’s Underwear by Tupera Tupera. Each turn of the page presented a new mystery where the kids had to deduce whose underwear they were looking at – were they looking at polar bear’s missing undergarments? As the story came to a close and the mystery was revealed, the students demanded to see the first pages again, hunting for clues they missed the first read through.
As her time with us ended, Juliette offered each of the attentive listeners a book to take home and encouraged them to visit her at the Detroit Public Library’s Parkman Branch. Evidently, many of the children who attend the Littlefield site agreed that Juliette’s selections were top ten quality.
Brilliant Detroit is grateful to have the support of the Detroit Public Library. We encourage readers young and old to sign up for a library card and unlock a world of adventure through literacy.
If you are interested in building a love for literacy in youth throughout Detroit, consider purchasing a book from our wishlist or volunteering as a Literacy Buddy.