The Library in the Woods is a reflective look at the past while giving an excellent example of the power of reading. Through hardship and change, Junior is shown a light in the darkness at the neighborhood library. This book will spark many meaningful conversations about history and hope. And the illustrations are beautiful.

A beautiful, rich story of family, love, literacy, and the era of segregation, this book should be read by children and adults. I couldn't get over the fact that this book was based on the author's town and rural library, and really appreciated the afterword that told more about his childhood, rural life, and the various kinds of intelligence that don't rely on reading.

I think this is so important because it captures the power that reading has, and the importance of libraries. I highly recommend this book for schools and libraries.

It was in the latter 20th century in farm country in the segregated South of the US when the farmers crops let him down again and he had to move his family to town. The boy loved to read, couldn't afford to buy books, and was restricted from the "whites only" library. Some good friends showed him where there was a Library In The Woods where Black people could go to borrow books and a son could bring them home to read to his father.
The illustrations by artist R. Gregory Christie are imaginative and reinforce the story in simple art and comforting colors.
Well suited for reading alone or WITH someone of any age, including ESL, and great for gifting to everyone, but especially to a school, waiting room, or your local public library!
I requested and received a temporary uncorrected digital Galley on Thorium PDF from Lerner Publishing Group | Carolrhoda Books ® via NetGalley. Pub Date Aug 05, 2025
#TheLibraryintheWoods by @calvinalexanderramseysr1 and @rgregorychristie @lernerbooks #carolrhodabooks #AmericanHistory #BlackHistory #LibrariesAndCulture #HistoryMatters #LibrariesMatter #ReadingIsFUNdamental #NoBannedBooks @literacyforall_ #illustrated
#childrensbooks #imagination #rurallibraries @littlefreelibrary #ruralilliteracy

The Library in the Woods is a wonderful read. The illustrations make me feel like I'm standing inside inside a painting. The story is sweet and uplifting. I very much enjoyed reading this lovely picture book.

I received an ARC of this children's book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a wonderful book. It 's based on a beautiful, true story and would make such a wonderful book to read to the child in your life!

I received a copy of this eBook from netGalley for a honest review.

What an uplifting and heartwarming story about a library for blacks in the south! I'm so happy to know that this is based on a real library. It is a love letter to all a good library and librarians can do for a community.

I received an electronic ARC from Lerner Publishing Group through NetGalley.
A realistic look at life in North Carolina when segragation was enforced. Told in first person so we never learn the main character's name but we see the hardships his family endured when they had to give up their farm and move to town. His dad got a job and they had a small home. After he meets some new friends, he is thrilled to go to the library with them. He discovers all sorts of books and the world opens for him. The author tenderly reveals that his father can't read. His mother challenges him to read the book with his dad and the book ends with this beatuiful scene on the porch. The artwork captures the story's mood and the love comes through both the text and the illustrations. A definite addition to libraries.

This book was breathtakingly beautiful. This gave me flashbacks to children books with beautiful black artwork that my parents would buy me.

Most find history dull and boring, even in the childrens books. This book was beautifully done and gave a little picture into what life was like back then. I had no idea of these libraries set back in the woods back then. An interesting part of history that is hidden away, yet shoudl be brought to the forefront. What really got me was mom gently helping her son through a teaching moment with his father. Who knew that you could find family moments anywhere?

This was an emotional read based on true events. It informs readers how people have to demonstrate compassion towards others who may not have the same skills as them. It also informs readers how education is viewed in different families (work came first before education). This book hit home for me. The artwork was wonderful. Highly recommend.

I love a picture book based on a true story to connect younger readers with events that have actually happened.
I love the way this story was told, it did not feel like it gave the ick talking about the past and how humans were segregated by other humans. Very powerful and supportive of the love for reading and how important our libraries are!

The Library in the Woods will surely become a valued and cherished literary accomplishment in the children's picture book world. Readers will love the folk art-style illustrations and the ability to immerse themselves into the world of this delightful main character as he emerges from a world living on a rural farm to living in a bustling city where he has the ability to have adventures with his friends every day. This children's book is a literary tribute to an iconic library, and it appears to have illuminated this library is splendid ways through the illustrations and detailed narrative.

The Library in the Woods will be a wonderful addition for any classroom library and in any library's children's department. Teachers will love reading the story aloud to classes filled with eager to learn children.

The Library in the Woods is an informative and heart warming story of a young African American boy in the 1950s discovering the joy of a public library and the emotional connection it creates with his father. This was a beautifully illustrated picture book that exposes young readers not only to the joy a library can bring, but also the hardships African Americans might have faced during this time period. The topic of the book makes me recall the power of another picture book:Ron’s Big Mission. As a kindergarten teacher I look forward to adding this book to my picture book collection. Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to preview this story.

This book was wonderful. I think it'd be a great one to have in schools for sure. I like how it shows how a love of reading can bring people together whether they are able to read or not. Additionally, I appreciate the history given in the book; it states in the back that it takes from a real story lived by the author and I think that was interesting to learn about.

Oh my goodness, this book touched my heart strings! First, it was set in the year my mom was born, in a town a few hours from where I lived for 17 years (and where my husband was born and raised), and it was about one of my favorite places--the library!

In a time when segregation and Jim Crow kept the black community apart from so many resources, the community took care of its own. <3

This picture book uses captivating illustrations with a unique art styling (created by a Caldecott award winning illustrator) to share the story of a young farm boy whose family moves to the city in order to survive better. In the city, his friends share with him the wonder of the library in the woods, specifically run by a black librarian for the black community.

Junior's (the boy) wonder of the world that library holds stole my heart! Then he runs to share this new discovery with his parents---but what will happen when he learns that his own father, like many black people in the time, doesn't know how to read?

This story includes education about the difficulty of the time, the emphasis of the power of reading & books, and a showing of compassion and love within families.

A huge thanks to NetGalley and the author for sending me the free ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

The illustrations in this book were gorgeous! The story was lovely and inspirational. It would be a good addition to any 2-3rd grade classroom. It could easily be expanded to a middle grade or early chapter book going into more detail or using more complex and advanced vocabulary to appeal to older children as well!

.This book defies genre as it reads like narrative nonfiction, memoir and picture book. In addition to an under represented topic of segregation and library history, the illustrations create beautiful paintings on their own. The additional information and personal connection that the author shares to the fictional story definitely enhances the story and offers teachers, students, and librarians ways to discuss or research a further.

Thank you to Lerner Publishing Group, Carolrhoda Books and NetGalley for the e-ARC of this title to read and review. This is a gorgeous book about the power of reading and the discovery of libraries, set in the segregated south. The back matter about the author's own library was really wonderful for further, in-depth reading about the inspirations for the story and the realities of this time. I think readers of any age would enjoy this book and get a rich experience out of it, because that moment of discovering a library full of adventures and imagination is powerful to any age, but the historical themes, and geographical and racial elements would be important and received by older kids and adult readers.

The year is 1959, and in rural North Carolina, Junior and his family are forced to move to town after a storm devastates their farm. As Junior adjusts to the differences between country and city life, he discovers one great joy of his new home: a small library which provides books for his family and the other black residents in town. Junior quickly discovers the joy of reading and, in the books final and most touching scenes, reads aloud to his father who never had the opportunity to learn to read.

This is a masterful picture book, filled with tiny, rich details which really help sell the emotional core of the story. These details, like Junior adjusting to wearing shoes after moving to town, really ground the narrative and make it feel real--which makes Junior's discovery of his father's illiteracy and his conversation with his mother about it all the more affecting. It all smacks of true, lived experience.

I would recommend this book very broadly to families, children, and adults. I think there is something for everyone to take away from it.

Such an important book for so many reasons. Beautiful story. Fantastic illustrations. Historical and relatable. Love the Author's Note at the end because it adds realness and feeling to the story. Five stars for the wonderful story.

I'm noticing more and more in picture books the small font size. This matters to readers. That would be my only recommendation to the publisher: make the print larger.