Librarians: A Dog's Best Friend

Print |

Reprint/License |

Subscription |

RSS |

By Rocco Staino -- School Library Journal, 11/24/2009

A handful of school librarians across the country are opening packages from Lerner Publishing to find an enclosed book from Elaine Landau’s Best Dogs Ever (Lerner, 2010) series dedicated to them.

Landau, the prolific author of numerous nonfiction series, typically doesn’t dedicate any of her books, but she’s decided to do so with nearly all of the titles in her new 12-book series by honoring a school, public, or academic librarian whom she personally knows.

“I decided to dedicate my dog book series to a special group of people: librarians and people in the book world that I admire,” Landau told School Library Journal. “All these individuals have done a lot for the field, and I'm so proud of all of them.”

Landau says the timing was perfect. She wanted to dedicate a fun book rather than one on say, Alzheimer's Disease or dating violence, topics that’s she written about in the past.

So far, six librarians—including Sara Kelly Johns, a media specialist at Lake Placid High School in New York

Sara Kelly Johns and her friend Sampson is a mixed terrier/golden lab.
Photo: Ryan Brenizer

and Carl Harvey, a librarian at North Elementary School in Nobleville, IN, have received books dedicated to them and 12 more are expected to receive the same honor in the spring and fall when additional titles in the series are released.

“It was such a surprise and honor when I opened the book to see that Elaine had dedicated it to me!” Johns, also a candidate for president of the American Library Association, says upon finding out the book on Yorkshire Terriers had her name in it. Harvey, a candidate for president of the American Association of School Librarians, had the book on Portuguese Water Dogs dedicated to him. “It truly was so kind of her to recognize our profession with the dedications in these wonderful books,” he says.

Terry Young, a media specialist at West Jefferson High School in Harvey, LA, was impressed with Landau when they first met many years ago. “She puts research and passion into her writing, her words are both informative and more important, engaging for her readers,” Young says. “Our common passion for children’s science books made her dedication of Labrador Retrievers Are the Best! to me very special and heart warming.”

Landau has written more than 300 nonfiction books for children on a wide range of topics. The book Boxers was dedicated to Karen Lemmons, an elementary school librarian with the Detroit City Schools, and Bulldogs went to AnneMarie Roscello, a librarian at Bergen Community College in New Jersey.