What Happened to Marion's Book?

by Brook Berg, Nathan Alberg (Illustrator)

Marion is very nervous about returning a library book she has spilled jam on, but the librarian assures her that as long as she pays to replace the book and takes care of her books, she can still take books out.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals, Books About Books, School

48 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2003

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

In terms of actual story, I would give this three stars. But it's the beginning of the school year and I'm teaching young elementary school students about book care. Four stars for the charming Marion, providing a good lesson about book care, and being just the right amount of silly. Recommended for elementary school librarians, especially those that are tired of Mr. Wiggle.

[Kaye · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this every year in my elementary school library to teach about proper book care. Marion takes books to the breakfast table and into the bath. I love to give the kiddos the chance to interact with the story by giving my a thumbs up or down if what Marion is doing with her book is a good thing or not. The story itself is fairly basic but it is a good reminder to take care of books. The kids love when I share samples of books that have been water damaged, chewed by dogs and have broken spines along with reading the book. The story is an easy way to start a new school year and remind them they are responsible for their library books.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marion loves books, but she doesn’t really know how to take very good care of them. So when she spills some jam on a library book, she tries all kinds of crazy ideas to help clean the book. All fail disastrously, and she has to fess up to the librarian.

I use this a lot at the beginning of the school year to start a discussion on book care.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story in this book is so didactic that it shouldn't work, but my younger students looove it. I always like to demonstrate Marian's solutions to the raspberry jam problem on an old, destroyed library book. The kids love cringing at how gross the book gets. Cheers, Marion the aspirational Librarian!

[RL White · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book every year to my kindergarten - 1st grade students. It introduces the idea of being responsible for books and the consequences if a book is damaged. A good book for Library Media Class.

[Deanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this to the kids next week when they come to the library!

[Ms. Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great way to talk about book care with my second graders!

[ckodama152 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Marion the hedgehog loves books. She has books of all kinds. She's so excited to start school so that she can grow up to become a librarian - "Marion the Librarian" has a nice ring to it. She is excited to learn that her new school has a library (called the Media Center) and that she can borrow two books every time she visits! One day, Marion is reading her library book at the breakfast table when she drops jam on it. You find out how Marion tries to clean her book before returning it to the Media Center.

This book is good for teaching kids about good book care and what things they should and shouldn't do with their books.

[Mrs. Wynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like to use this book with my primary classes at the beginning of the year. Poor Marion loves books and can't wait to go to the library, but no one has ever taught her how to take care of her own books. When she brings home her first school library book, Marion brings it to the table where she spills jelly on it. Her many tries to clean the page eventually result in all the print and pictures disappearing from the book. A sadder and wiser Marion must go to school and bring the book to her librarian.

This book underscores the importance of taking care of library books! We librarians can't teach this lesson enough, it seems.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adorable hedgehog Marion loves books and reading so much that her Nana says "she will surely grow up to be a librarian." One Saturday morning, Marian brings her library book to the breakfast table and spills raspberry jam on it. Marion knows that she isn't supposed to have her books on the table so she tries to fix this problem on her own. Unfortunately, her ideas of using toothpaste as a cleaner, giving the book a bath, and later throwing it in a washing machine only make the problem worse.

A gently humorous book that has Marian learning about responsibility as well as book care.

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book about how to take care of your library book. There are a lot of them around, and all elementary librarians read them out loud, but somehow Marion transcends the genre.
The kids love this story and ask to borrow it all year long. It's not spectacular but it's very honest, and it obviously rings a bell with them. It will also prompt a long conversation about what kind of animal Marion is (a hedgehog), and how she is different from a porcupine.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Marion the hedgehog gets jam on her library book while eating breakfast. Her attempts at cleaning the book only makes things worse. She finally learns how to properly care for her books and pays for the damaged one. This is a cute story but I wish it focused more on the most common ways books are damaged, in order for me to use it for lessons. Instead it spends more time on Marion's attempts at cleaning it up.

[A · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay story about a little Hedgehog girl named, Marion. She loves books and one day hopes to be a librarian. As it turns out, Marion is not very good at taking care of books. She ends up ruining a book from the media center at school and goes through a great deal of trouble to try and fix it. The school librarian tells her she must pay for the book and talks to her about how she will take care of library books in the future. Some librarian propaganda here.

[Alexandria Hiam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay story about a little Hedgehog girl named, Marion. She loves books and one day hopes to be a librarian. As it turns out, Marion is not very good at taking care of books. She ends up ruining a book from the media center at school and goes through a great deal of trouble to try and fix it. The school librarian tells her she must pay for the book and talks to her about how she will take care of library books in the future. Some librarian propaganda here.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an okay start-of-the-year story and I understand the intent, but in other ways it felt like another talking animal life lesson story that I could take or leave. It was fun, but not a favorite. I did appreciate their use of the washing machine to clean up the book. How innovative and horrifying at the same time!

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little long for a read aloud but I'm going to make it work

[Amy Wadsworth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marion is a little hedgehog who needs to learn how to care for her library books! This book is great to help students learn about taking responsibility for the books they borrow from the library. A great read at the beginning of the school year.

[Megengelter · Rating 3 out of 5]

info lit class -

how to care for a book - fiction
library lessons are in a pamphlet attached to inside of book

difficult to find - out of print? - ILL through Sno-Isle from Whitworth University Library

[Kendall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for teaching kids how to handle books properly.

[Natalie Harvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I give it 4 stars because it gets the "book care" message across to young students in a meaningful and interesting way. But yeah, it's a little cheesy.

[Julie Darling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book on learning about taking care of books for little ones.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for going over proper book care with kindergartners (and other elementary students).

[Lisa M · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of a review to come later. Good for re-enforcing how to care for a book.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent book to teach students proper book care.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good book for primary school children about the care of books.

[Justine Ridder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dee's Collection

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book to use for a follow up lesson on book care.

[Laura Giessler · Rating 4 out of 5]

About a young book-lover who learns how to care for books. Also great to use with class for predicting.

[Travis]

I read this book at observation and it was in the media center and this story was a good book that teaches children about what and what not to do with books to keep them in good condition.

[Ashley-Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very sweet book, and an excellent read for kids who have trouble keeping their books clean (we all know one of those...)