Roar for Reading

by Beth Ferry, Andrew Joyner (Illustrator)

Overview

From New York Times bestselling author Beth Ferry comes a moving picture book about a brave little lion who decides to speak out for stories by standing up to book banning.

Libraries and lions have a history so long no one’s quite sure how it began—maybe because books were once rare and needed fierce protectors? Still, it’s been a very long time since lions had to roar in the name of books. But when young Julius finds out that books are being banned at his local library, he becomes so filled with emotion that he ROARS!

Not all lions are librarians, but all librarians are lions in this inspiring tale of protecting the stories that connect us and defending books that hold ideas that can change the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781665940559
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication date:	09/03/2024
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	10.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.12(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Beth Ferry is the author of numerous picture books for children including Roar for Reading, Prunella, and the New York Times bestseller Stick and Stone. She is an avid reader who believes that any day spent with a book is a perfect day. Beth lives with her family by the beach in New Jersey where she finds inspiration in the salty air. In addition to writing picture books, Beth also writes chapter books and graphic novels. You can learn more at BethFerry.com.

Andrew Joyner is an Australian illustrator and cartoonist. He’s the illustrator of The Terrible Plop by Ursula Dubosarsky and Roar for Reading by Beth Ferry and the author and illustrator of the Boris chapter book series. In addition to his children’s book projects, he also illustrates regularly for newspapers and magazines. Andrew lives in Strathalbyn, South Australia, with his family and nineteen pets.

Editorial Reviews

2024-05-17
Lion librarians roar for intellectual freedom.

Lions have protected libraries for years, though the link between the two is a bit of a mystery. Perhaps it’s lions’ roars that make them the perfect guardians of “something rare and precious” like books. Scenes depicting libraries of yore show robed lions in caves safeguarding treasure boxes filled with books as scholarly-looking animals happily read. Today, libraries are “peaceful and quiet” places. Librarians—still lions—focus less on protecting books and more on sharing them. The librarians’ legendary roars are all but forgotten. That is, until the mayor of one community tries to ban books because “some folks think these books are dangerous.” At first, the head librarian, Ms. Millicent, and her son, Julius, comply and remove books from the shelves. But, as Julius stares at a nearly empty shelf, a rumble in his belly turns into a roar. Together, Julius and his mother fight back alongside community members—all animals—for everyone’s right to read. This timely book effectively simplifies the current book-banning movement into easily digestible terms. Better yet, in the backmatter, “ROAR” is revealed to be an acronym for steps to advocate for intellectual freedom (Recognize, Organize, Act, Respect). As an added treat, book covers throughout reference near-actual titles (Of Mice and Moose).

A solid primer for library advocates. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews