Mother Goose, Spud Murphy and the Librarian Knights: Representations of Librarians and Their Libraries in Modern Children's Fiction

This article investigates the ways in which libraries and librarians are portrayed in children's fiction. Three example texts are used to determine whether the portrayal of the library and the librarian in modern children's fiction provides children with a positive image of the service, and to identify the ways in which such fiction can teach children about library use. The chosen texts provide critical analysis and are as follows: "Little Bo Peep's Library Book" (Cowell, 1999); "The Legend of Spud Murphy" (Colfer, 2004) and "The Last of the Sky Pirates" (Stewart and Riddell, 2003). The three texts include a picture book for young children, a story for children who are capable of reading on their own and a book for older children and young adults. The main conclusion drawn is that modern children's fiction presents a positive view of libraries, librarians and the services they provide. It is argued that a variety of methods is used to portray libraries and librarians in a positive light, and that such fiction may play a considerable role in educating young readers about responsible library use and the range of services provided by libraries. (Contains 2 figures.)