The 12 Gifts of YA, #5: librarians

Jason Puckett's librarian tattoo

(Photo credit goes to Jason Puckett.  What a badass tattoo!  But of course you can be a badass librarian without any ink.)

Meeting and hanging out with librarians has to be one of *the best* gifts of a YA life.  I don’t think I could love librarians any harder if I tried.   A librarian is a superhero, a search engine, and a kind soul, all wrapped into a smart and interesting person.  Plus, librarians make writers feel like rock stars in a way nobody else can.  It’s the best feeling in the world, to know that a librarian likes your book.

I could thank librarians forever–so many have been kind to my books–but I really want to thank the librarians who’ve slipped a copy of a YA novel (anybody’s novel) to a kid and said, “Read this.  I think you’ll like it,” knowing full well the kid will devour it and maybe even keep it, and the librarian will gladly pay to have it replaced.  Librarians are the people who KNOW:  they know what kid can use which book, and they can *see* that kid, even when s/he’s invisible to everyone else around him.  They know how to comfort people with good stories, and they set up love affairs better than the best matchmaker around.  YA literature wouldn’t be the force it is without them.

Happy holidays, librarians!  You rock, and I owe you.  Like a lot.  (And want to win some books, librarians and librarian friends?  Post a comment!)

(and DON’T FORGET TO BID at YA for NJ–win cool stuff and support the Community Food Bank of New Jersey!  Kidlit peeps = they are as badass as librarians.)

 

This entry was posted in 12 gifts of YA. Bookmark the permalink.

4 Responses to The 12 Gifts of YA, #5: librarians

Leave a Reply to Kerry Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.