A cheery book with appealing and bright illustrations. Perfect for anyone who likes books! Thank you for the opportunity to review, Netgalley and publisher.

Really cute book with nice illustrations. I really like the rhyming verse about the fairies, would be really cute if there were a few more rhyming verses.

I was super excited for this book because obliviously it's about building a library. It was cute and I like the use of imagination but I feel like there could have been a better title.

Really cute story about a little girl building her dream library. The illustrations were exactly my type- very whimsical and colorful. I love the emphasis on the importance of reading and loving stories!

A lovely book for children to enjoy, revealing the wonder and delight of being able to visit a library. Also explores their imagination to see what they would include, from teeny tiny fairies to giants, and from bathtubs to trampolines. A library should be full of books, but full of fun too. Lovely illustrations and lots for the children to find in the pictures too.

This book is a difficult read for children as it has many big words and long sentences. The illustrations are beautiful. The would be a good book to be read to children

This was such a sweet book! Who wouldn't love their own library? I especially loved ice cream sundae bar! As a children's librarian, I am excited to share this title with my students. I work with an age group that loves reading and will be able to relate to this fun book! I look forward to asking my kiddos what they would put in their libraries!

Received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely adorable book about creating an original library with so much fun stuff! I really love the artwork and its style, the colors also help it pop. All the fairytale characters were sweet and loveable. A great book promoting imagination and libraries!

My Thoughts
I know I would enjoy working in a library. I’ve done it before actually! I used to work in the library at my university (work-study job) and I loved it! I’ve often thought of volunteering or working in a library after I retire. This book makes me want to build my own whimsical library now!! Here are my pros and cons for So You Want to Build a Library:

Pros

1. The illustrations by Aviel Basil are vivid and exciting! You will see sloths in roller skates, princess cowpokes, astronaut soccer players, cartwheeling giraffes, and one very creative and exciting library!

2. The child in this book wants to build a library. She knows she needs building materials, help from her friends, and lots and lots of books. I love that there are questions in the story to engage the reader, such as where should the library be built, what kind of books should be in the library, should there be a bathtub, should there be a playground, and more! I think it would be fun to read this book out loud with a young reader and have them answer the questions as the book progresses.

3. I love that this book encourages and celebrates reading and makes libraries seem like magical places! Because they are!

Cons
None.

Summary
I spent a lot of time in our small local library when I was growing up. I didn’t live too far from the library so I would ride my bike there sometimes, or else my mom would just drop me off there. I could spend HOURS in the library – browsing, reading, dreaming. My library card was one of my most prized possessions! So, I love that books like this exist so a whole new generation of kids can learn that libraries are actually fantastical and magical places to spend some time!

Written for reading ages 4 to 7 (grade level 1 to 2).

Thank you NetGalley and Capstone Editions for providing an ebook, which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

Rating: 4/5 stars.

“So You Want to Build a Library” is a short but sweet fiction book for young children to enjoy with the help of a parent or older reader. The art style is simple but cute and fits the story well. I loved the diversity in the illustrations. The story is a bit silly and nonsensical, but perfect for children to enjoy. It explores the idea that the only limit to what we can do is our own imagination. I even learned a new word, cowpoke, that I had never heard of before! I only wish the book had also mentioned services that real libraries have available, not just imaginary ones. I would recommend this book to young children who are already book lovers.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book on NetGalley and have provided an honest review.*

A picture book for young library fans, who get to build their very own library, with whatever they want in it, from a bathtub to a zip line. Actual books are only the focus of maybe a third of the book, but since this all about creating your own perfect library, anything in your imagination goes.

Colorful illustrations and no more than two sentences per pages make it a fun book for young readers, as well as any adults reading to them.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is an absolutely adorable story about an imaginative child seeking to build a library - with a dash of childlike wonder in construction and furnishings this library is exactly where I want to be. Sweet and simple this is a fun picture book that could be read over and over again. It would also make for a good prompt for teachers to have students write or draw what they'd put in their own libraries.

What a sweet book. A book lovers soul can really connect to this book. My toddler would love his own library and so would I. The imagination here is so fun and kept me thoroughly enjoying the story.

This book couldn't have come at a more better time for me. I've always been a big fan of reading and the best way to pass this on to my daughter is to lead by example. With her discovering all the books that a library holds, she's been pretty excited about reading. I thought this book was wonderful! It had a great imagination and really caught my children's attentions! The illustrations were great, the story itself was easy to follow along and it was just perfect for my beginner reader. I would definitely recommend this for a children's library.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving a free copy.

This was a really cute story about a little girl who loves reading and wants to build her own library. I appreciated the little inclusion of non-binary people, especially since this is a picture book for kids! Would really recommend reading this with your kids, in your class or even use it in speech and language therapy. I'm definitely going to keep this one in mind and I may use it one day when I'm a graduated SLP.

Thanks to Netgalley for this advanced readers copy

Super colorful, and imaginative picture book. I love the illustrations and how inclusive it was. This would be a great read-out-loud story and have the listeners recreate their own dream library.

Thanks to Capstone + Netgalley for the advance copy of "So You Want to Build a Library" by Lindsay Leslie, illustrated by Aviel Basil.

A vibrant, bright, gorgeously illustrated ode to books and libraries.
However, the perspective and point of view of the story leads to a distance between the book and the reader that feels disconnecting.

An ode to books and book lovers in picture book form! I loved the creative and whimsical air this book has.

This picture book is full of colorful and whimsical illustrations, and it's fun to read once, but I can't imagine wanting to read it again and again. It's written in second person and the main character is clearly just meant to be a vehicle for the reader to imagine themself, but I feel like it's less interesting that way. I found myself wanting an actual plot.

A cute little book about a cute little bibliophile. Owning a library is every bookworms dream and this book brings that dream to reality.
Colorful illustrations make this book more enjoyable.