Books! Books! Books! Explore the Amazing Collection of the British Library

by Mick Manning, Brita Granström (Illustrations)

Calling all young bibliophiles! Peek inside the world's greatest library and get the inside story on some of the rarest, oddest, most valuable, and best-loved books in its vaunted collection.

A tiny prayer book carried by a queen to her execution. An atlas so huge that it takes six people to lift it. A handmade gospel hidden in a saint's coffin, and Shakespearean folios so precious they are kept in a bombproof storeroom. From stories of man-eating monsters, brave knights, and wicked witches to tales of lost children, magical creatures, haunted moors, and flying machines, award-winning duo Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom bring to life the extraordinary history of the book through the treasures of one of the greatest libraries in the world: the British Library.

Genres: Nonfiction, Picture Books, Books About Books, History, Childrens, Juvenile, British Literature

48 pages, Hardcover

Published September 5, 2017

About the author

Manning went to school in Keighley and then studied at at Bradford College. He studied illustration and graphic design at Newcastle Polytechnic (now the University of Northumbria) 1979 - 82 and then illustration and animation at the Royal College of Art London 1984-87 . Later he devised and ran the BA honours Illustration option at the Glasgow School of Art while maintaining a freelance career. In 1998 he resigned to concentrate on writing and illustrating children's books full-time. British artist-illustrators Xavier Pick, Helen Stephens and Mark Hearld number among his ex-students. Manning's first book A Ruined House was chosen by Quentin Blake in The Laureate's Party (Red Fox) as one of his personal top 50 children's books of all time. Manning is known for his collaborations as author and co-illustrator with partner Brita Granström. Books from their young non-fiction series "Wonderwise" won the TES, Silver Smarties and English Association Awards and were also shortlisted for the Royal Society Science Book Prizes (then called The Rhone Poulenc) on three occasions. They won The English Association award again in 2005 with Voices of the Rainforest and again in 2008 with Greek Hero. Their book Yuck! is referenced in the Mike Leigh film Happy Go Lucky. Tail End Charlie, a picture book about his father's Second World War experience as an RAF air gunner during 1944 was shortlisted for, and televised on, the Blue Peter Book Awards 2010. It was also shortlisted for the ALCS Award and was nominated for the Carnegie Medal 2010. Manning is a direct descendant of 18th Century Italian artist Bonifacio Musso, and Musso's London-born son Charles Muss who was himself, among many other things, a British illustrator. In 2011 Mick and Brita won a fourth English Association Award with the follow up to Tail-End Charlie; Taff in the WAAF a fascinating book about his mother's war including her experiences as a Chicksands 'Y' station listener for Bletchley Park. In 2011 he was elected a Fellow of The English Association.

Manning's other children's non fiction picture books include science titles such as: How Did I Begin? (this book looks at the amazing development of a human baby from fertilised egg to birth and was shortlisted for the Rhone Poulenc Prize in 1996) Woolly Mammoth (with the NHM, London), Dino Dinners (with the NHM, London), Nature Adventures and 'What Mr Darwin Saw, (this book about the life of Charles Darwin and his discoveries was shortlisted for the Royal Society's science book prize in 2011.)

Reviews

[Hilary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book underwhelming, I expected to enjoy this a lot but this whistle stop tour seemed to leave out many of the stops. I really liked the mix of photographed images, book pages and drawings, some of the choices were interesting but not much was told in the small amount of information. I found the links between the pages weak, you might prefer fact or you might prefer fiction, here's a cookery book, now you might have tummy ache? try a medical book, books by sisters, books by brothers..... It was so short, one page of 'more about the authors' and half a page containing a glossary. There's only 40 pages of actual book, I would have liked to have seen a lot more and I was very surprised not to see a photo of the library and how it is used today.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a pushover for books about books and bookstores. I spotted this one this week in Book Riot and bought it last night at my local indie bookstore (better than spending money on Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.
The British Library was only built 20 years or so ago (a friend who has spent time doing research there told me that the old library is still there). With 400 miles of shelves, it holds 150 million books. These include the oldest surviving book produced in Europe with its original cover and binding- The St. Cuthbert Gospel. The Magna Carta is there, as is an 11th century of Beowulf, which I didn't know originated in Scandinavia (makes sense with the ripping off of arms etc. that we may expect from Vikings of the time).
Each of the books mentioned includes a short history. Young readers as well as mature ones like me will learn plenty of history and book lore. I am adding it to my collection of books for young readers about libraries and librarians.

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Attractive illustrations that sometimes incorporate the artifacts. One star for those. Unfortunately, that's all for the good news.

The text is dull and disjointed - just a series of facts (most entries have a sidebar or two). If the random scatterings of facts within the book weren't enough, a full page at the back add one or two more for each of the 21 entries. And in crowning anticlimactic fashion, we get a final series of facts in the form of a 15-word glossary. This is a prime example of what is wrong with modern non-fiction picture books.

There is also not a single mention of the British Museum (established in the 1750s, of which the library was a part until the early 1970s and where it was housed until this new building was completed in 1997). We also don't learn anything about the library's current activities as a working center and what it offers its many daily patrons.

Some of the selections are excellent and rather inevitable (Magna Carta, Canterbury Tales, Lindisfarne Gospels, etc.) but others are weaker - at the very least in terms of the rationale provided in the text. Why include The Brothers Grimm? There is no particular artifact named or shown. It appears that they just wanted to follow up the entry on the Bronte sisters with the line, "And there are books by brothers, too." Fascinating....

Rather than choosing 21 particular items, the book veers off-course onto some kind of history of literature tack (William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, the Bronte Sisters, the Brothers Grimm, Charles Dickens, Sherlock Holmes). Instead of addressing a single work, a virtually useless overview of these is given.

I suspect that a BL pamphlet would provide more information in a more cohesive manner. I can certainly attest that their wonderful videos do a better job in under five minutes.

What would be wonderful to have is a children's book that generates some real interest in and passion for the British Library and its collections. Something along the lines of what Noel Streatfeild did in The First Book of the Ballet, where you get an engaging, informative story (fiction) along with the history and the important works and people. With such an incredibly varied and engrossing topic, there's practically no limit to what could be done.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 4 out of 5]

That's it, I've got to go to the British Library!! Manning and Granstrom have created a tour of some of the best and most exciting books and manuscripts in the library. Wow! I wish the illustrations had been more photographs than drawings, however. Still, the authors have captured the variety of types of books as well as newspapers, documents, and sheet music that the library holds. I hope this will inspire young readers all over the world to want to visit their own national libraries, such as the Library of Congress here in the U.S. (In fact, it would be nice if someone could write a children's book like this for the Library of Congress.) Highly recommended!

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was truly moved to view the actual Magna Carta at the British Library on a visit to London, having studied it in school in England in the 1970s. This book is a wonderful overview of the treasures you can find in this amazing Library!

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fabulous look at the history of Britain through the collection of the British library, from the earliest illuminated gospels through Shakespeare's First Folios (they have five), from the drawings of da Vinci through every newspaper published in Britain and Ireland, every day, since 1869. Amazing! A fascinating look at art, literature, history and culture for young people.

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is visually appealing, but overall, it's not a great nonfiction text. Though it introduces some interesting items found in the British Library, it does so very haphazardly, with no transitions between items, and very little information of substance about each one. If not for the illustrations, I'd have given this book only two stars.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

First sentence: Welcome to the greatest library in the world! We're going to take you on an amazing tour of its treasures--including some that are so rare they are kept under lock and key.

Premise/plot: Mick Manning gives readers a tour of the British Library in his newest picture book, Books! Books! Books! The tour stops include: the St. Cuthbert Gospel, the Lindisfarne Gospels, Beowulf, the Magna Carta, Geoffrey Chaucer, the Klencke Atlas, Lady Jane Grey's Prayer Book, the cookbook collection, the medical book collection, William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, the Bronte Sisters, the Brothers Grimm, Charles Dickens, Leonardo da Vinci, Oliver Goldsmith, Charles Darwin, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the newspaper collection, George Frideric Handel, and Sherlock Holmes. As you can see, the tour includes individual works, genre collections, and author collections. This picture book for older readers actually has a narrative flow to it--a conversational flow to it. It is packed with facts and details. But it's not dry or boring.

My thoughts: I definitely enjoyed reading this one. It probably wouldn't surprise anyone if I said I loved, loved, loved it. I found it informative and fascinating. If you love books about books, it's a must-read! I also like the fact that by reading it one can get an idea of what kinds of special collections libraries can have.

It is a picture book for older readers. I might even say it's more for adults than kids.

[Gail Cooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a superb book for young readers - eye catching and chock full of gems from the British Library!! Everything children have ever known from The Canterbury Tales to the Brothers Grimm to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is artfully examined and displayed. Parents will find themselves as enthralled as their young ones by not only the books themselves but the glorious illustrations by Brita Granstrom. Also included is a helpful glossary.

Imagine if you will a tiny prayer book carried by a queen to her execution or an atlas so large that it takes six people to lift it. You'll also find a handmade gospel secreted in a saints coffin, Shakespearean folios of such import that they are kept in a bombproof storeroom and a great deal more.

Many have called the British Library the greatest library in the world and once you have enjoyed the one of a kind BooksBooksBooks you may well agree.

Enjoy!

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really, really liked this book, even though it is in a format to appeal to children. However, I am not sure if American children will appreciate this book; there are only 2 books mentioned that are for children: Grimm's stories and Alice in Wonderland. The rest of the items are of adult interest. Bits and pieces of some of the mentioned works are depicted in photographs; the rest of the illustrations are collage and black-and-white drawings. Teens might like it, or they might think it looks too juvenile for them.

[Joyful · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was so excited about the idea of this book, but am quite disappointed the writers didn’t include quality images of the items described in the British Library’s collection. The artwork and design is pleasing, but readers who want to visit the collection vicariously are given illustrations, which just glimpses of writing from within the volumes. So while the premise is highly intriguing, without images of the items, there’s really little purpose in the book at all.

[Christina Reid · Rating 4 out of 5]

No book-lover could resist this gloriously-illustrated introduction to some of the treasures of The British Library. I learned a few facts and really enjoyed the wide range of subjects presented - just wish that there were more as those that were included were so fascinating! This would be perfect to read before visiting The British Library with your kids.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

How I wish I could have read this book before my visit to the British Library last autumn! A gorgeously illustrated visual tour through the highlights of the Library’s rare book and print collections. A treat for any library & literature lover.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

a lovely children's book with both illustrations and photo scans of the real book/letter/manuscript etc each page is talking about! cute and informative, spans a wide range of things found in the british library so there'll be a page to interest every child 📚

[Michele Knott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating information about the collection in The British Library. Makes me want to go on a field trip!

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really fun, well put together book (in my adult opinion)!

I liked the layout of art, pictures, and layered text made to look like a contained collage on each page.
I liked the books featured, the facts, the news paper page, and Handel's sheet music page.

Would be really fun to read with a child before a trip to their local or National library. :)

[Shecki B]

I’ll have to make a visit to the British Library next time I’m in London. My interest is piqued by the fascinating samples listed in this whimsical children’s book.

[Alyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The British Library has 15 floors and over 150 million items. After reading this illustrated book, I know I could spend days exploring this library.

[Jane Maple · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is a nonfiction children's book that provides facts on the following items.

The British Library itself (how big it is, how it was built)

The St. Cuthbert Gospel - which was buried with the saint in 687 CE, taken from the coffin in 1100 and bought by the library in 2011. It is tiny 3 and a half inches by 5 and a half inches

The Lindisfarne Gospels - monk Eadfrith created in 700 CE the original jewel cover was stolen by vikings

Beowulf - "Beowulf is the oldest surviving long poem in Old English. The Briitsh Library's copy, three thousand lines long, was hand-written in the eleventh century. Set in Scandinavia and brought to Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers, the poem is a thrilling adventure story that was originally told out loud at feasts and gatherings." The test goes on to explain the plot as a Swedish superhero helping a Danish king against a man-eating monster known as Grendel and then facing Grendel's fiercer mother at the bottom of a lake and kills her with a sword.

The Magna Carta - explains the history by saying that the English nobles became fed up with King John's unfair punishments, heavy taxes and land grabbing to raise money for a war he was losing in Frace so they decided to rebel. To avoid a rebellion, a legal document was drawn up to say what the king could and could not do. It also explains that Magna Carta means Great Charter. The other earliest copies of this historic legal agreement are kept at Salisbury and Lincoln Cathedrals.

The Canterbury Tales - the first book ever printed in English using movable type and a printing press in 1476. The Knight's Tale is "the story of two brave and honorable knights who fall in love with the same lady and fight a courtly duel to decide who will marry her." Chaucer was a royal courtier and a diplomat.

The Klencke Atlas - Made for King Charles the Second and so big and heavy it takes six people to lift it and when opened it measures 7 feet by almost 6 feet. This was the largest atlas in the world until 2012, when an even larger atlas, entitled Earth Platinum, was created in Australia.

Lady Jane Grey's Prayer Book - was a great-niece of Henry VIII. She became queen of England at the age of seventeen but ruled for only nine days before Henry's daughter Mary took power. She carried this little handwritten book to her execution. It even had some of her own messages in the margins.

William Shakespeare - The First Folio is so valuable it is kept in a bombproof strong oom deep underground.

Cookbooks - from medieval recipes to cookbooks by modern TV celebrities. Mrs. Isabella Beeton was the superstar cookbook writer of Victorian times. Her Book of Household Management, was published in 1861 and a huge best seller. The oldest known cookbook in English is the Farme of Cury (The Method Cooking), handwritten around 1390, with recipes used in the royal kitchen. The British Library has the first printed copy, published in 1780.

Medical Books - A Scottish doctor in the eighteenth century, Charles Alston, described how the juice of squashed wood lice could be used to cure children's colic, in his book Lectures on the Materia Medica (1770). The British Library has works by some of the great forerunners of modern medicine, including Edward Jenner (1749-1823), who coined the word vaccine for his smallpox inoculations; Sir James Young Simpson (1811-1870), pioneer of anesthetics; and Joseph Lister (1827-1912), who introduced antiseptic methods in surgery.

Jane Austen - wrote witty clever books about love, pride, and jealousy among the English gentry. She wrote her stories in the early 1800s. Her six wonderful novels are full of lively characters, intrigues, and romances from Sense and Sensibility, about two sisters seeking love in very different ways, to Emma, a funny and touching sotry about a headstrong girl who tries unsuccessfully to do some matchmaking for her friends. In Jane Austen's most famous story, Pride and Prejudice, we meet Mr. Darcy, the arrogant upper-class gentleman who learns he has been too proud, and Elizabeth Bennet, the clever girl with whom he falls in love-along with the rest of the Bennet sisters and their comic, foolish mother-plus a villainous soldier! 15-year-old Jane Austen wrote History of England, which makes fun of the usual kind of boring history books that children had to read in those days. Jane's sister, Cassandra, drew the pictures. Austen became engaged for just twenty-four hours. She changed her mind the next day and refused her suitor.

The Bronte Sisters - lived and wrote in a parsonage on the wild Yorkshire moors almost two hundred years ago. Victorian readers were both shocked and thrilled by the Bronte sisters' revolutionary stories about strong female characters. Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, set on the moors, tells a dramatic story of violence and passion between Cathy and Heathcliff. Charlotte bronte's Jane Eyre shows how Jane survives harsh school days to become an independent young woman who, as a governess, falls in love with her boss, Mr. Rachester. Anne Bronte's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is about a married woman brave enough to leave her dissolute husband and take her child with her.

The Brothers Grimm - collected word-of-mouth fairy tales

Charles Dickens - began work at the age of 12 in a boot-polish facotyr but later became one of the greatest storytellers of all time. In Oliver Twist, a poor orphan gets caught up in a criminal gang, and in The Old Curiosity Shop, LIttle Nell and her grandpa have to leave their beloved shop and become homeless beggars.

Leonardo da Vinci - the library has the notebooks of this artist and inventor. Leonardo wrote backwards in his notebooks, maybe to keep them secret but more likely because he cound and found it funny!

Oliver Goldsmith - nature books by 18th century writer of A HIsotry of the Earth and Animated Nature. He wrote on many topics, but he is best known now as a playwright and as the author of the 1766 novel the Vicar of Wakefield

Charles Darwin - his five-year voyage around the world led him to make tremendous discoveries about evolution.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - published in 1865 and not only changed the way many people thought about children's books but was read by many adults, too.

Newspapers - The Times - more than 60 million newspapers including the first ever copy of London's the Times first published in 1788. The British Library has a copy of every newspaper published every day in Britain and Ireland since 1869, as well as many more going back to the seventeenth century.

Sheet Music - George Friederic Handel rages were famous. Once he threw a kettledrum at the leader of an orchestra so hard that his wig fell off in the effort. Handel's handwritten scores are part of the British Library's vast music collection.

Sherlock Holmes - the Hounds of the Baskervilles published in 1902 Holmes and Watson try to solve a terrifying mystery on lonely Dartmoor. An escaped prisoner on the loose.

More about the British Library - The library receives a copy of every single book published in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Almost every country in the world has a national librayr. The Library of Congress in washington, DC claims to be the largest of all. Founded in 1800 it holds more than 162 million items. Australia's National Library in Canberra, is much younger, founded in 1960, but already has mroe than 10 million items.

and a Glossary which includes words like Folio "a book made by folding individual sheets of paper only once, can also be used to refer to a large-format book" and Old English - "The language written and spoken by the anglo-Saxons up to about 1100.

[Cindy Mitchell *Kiss the Book* · Rating 4 out of 5]

Manning, Mick & Brita Granstrom. Books! Books! Books!: Explore the Amazing Collection of the British Library. 42 Pages. Candlewick Press, 2017. $17.99. Content: G. NON-FICTION. PICTURE BOOK.
A book about one of the greatest libraries in the world—The British Library. Built with 180,000 tons of concrete. It has 400 miles of shelves. But the most important things are inside the library. This book highlights some of the British Library’s greatest treasures. Handmade books like St. Cuthbert’s Gospel made in 687 CE. Old documents like: Beowulf, Lindisfarne Gospels, and the Magna Carta. It also has big maps, like the Klencke Atlas that is so heavy, six people have to carry it. The works of great British authors like: Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Bronte Sisters, Charles Dickens, Sir Author Conan Doyle, and Lewis Carroll. The library also holds: cookbooks, newspapers, medical encyclopedias, and sheet music.

Authors Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom do a fantastic job of highlighting a few fascinating items from an enormous collection. They used mixed media illustrations with cartoons, pictures of actual books and documents, and short storyboards to explain the stories like Pride and Prejudice. Each page is eye-catching and draws the reader into each story. The authors explain who the people were who created the items, what they did, and why they were important. A unique overview of history that will appeal to bibliophiles, librarians, and book-loving kids.

EL-ADVISABLE. Samantha Hastings, MA, MLS.
https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2017...

[Robyn Carroll · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mick Manning gives a tour of all the different kinds of books that the British Library has to offer. He describes that the library has everything from cookbooks to notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. This book would be perfect for 5th graders to sixth graders due to the complexity of the illustrations and of the vocabulary used. This book should've won the Caldecott medal because the book's illustrations are the best I've seen on a picture book. The documents that the author talks about looks like it was a photograph of the document. Plus the illustrations are full of life and go perfect with the text. In some of the pages it looks like there's crumbled up pages of books at the feet of the characters that the author is talking about. The author even uses pieces of a story for pants on of the characters in the book.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to the librarian who pointed me at this book. I doubt I will get to the British Library, but this gives a hint of its scope as it gallops through the smallest but most majestic sampling of authors and works collected there. The narrative and illustrations cohere and work together so well that I wasn’t ready for it to end. In keeping with books that mark the history of books, the authors/illustrators have incorporated many display and text typefaces, sketches in pencil, mixed media, photos, ancient texts, and plenty of history. This book’s thrums with energy and generates an appreciation of the library, not as an institution but for the stars it is meant to contain, preserve, and make available.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

If find yourself on the way to London and want to know what treasures are found at the British Library, then you should prep by reading this book. Heck, even if you aren't going to London, this non fiction work gives a high level overview at some of the items in the library. Shakespeare's folio, the Bronte sisters letters and a copy of the Magna Carta. The illustrations are quite kid friendly, and elementary school students who like to learn a bit of history and literature would benefit. Told in a kid friendly way - not condescending, not too intellectual - a tough balance to pull off, but done nicely.

[Katie Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my goodness this is so cool! Manning and Granstrom take you inside the British Library to explore some of their most incredible holdings. Just fascinating! They did a great job exploring the history of printing and the book, as well as explaining famous works and history for young readers. I am particularly enamored with Brita Granstrom's illustrations!! Her almost collage-like digital & watercolor work is absolutely amazing. You get a real look at the books held at the library, but in very unique ways. This is one I could spend time pouring over for a while, just really beautifully done.

[MaryLibrarianOH · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collage style illustrations help explore the people and books that make up British history. I liked the writing that is broken into snippets for each person (Charles Dickens) or book (Beowulf) but I'm really not sure who the audience is for this book. I think most kids won't relate to the authors mentioned and would be too young to read their works.

Would make a good gift for an adult or teen that is into everything British.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy, interesting nonfiction book for early-middle grades that tells of many of the British Library's major holdings from the earliest ones on to the present. Interesting and relevant, including many well-known and a few lesser known British authors and writings. Included are early Christian writings, Beowulf, the Magna Carta, Canterbury Tales, Shakespeare, Dickens, Doyle....with a whole lot in between.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The amazing collection of the British Library is highlighted here. With over 400 miles of books this library holds some absolute treasures; the oldest surviving bound book, Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’s original manuscript, and so much more.

Located between Euston and Paddindton stations, a visit the British Library seems like a swell addition to the itinerary.

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVED the illustrations. The mix of colored pencil drawings, paper cut outs and photos of the books in question all make for delightful snapshots full of life, color, action, and emotions as they put the book in their original context, rather than just a sterile glass case where they are now.

The text however... I would have liked more there about the history of each book, and, more importantly, just how they ended up in the imperial hands of the British Library.

[Sue Poduska · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is more a celebration of the all things written than anything else. In highlighting so many of the British Library’s most prized possessions, the author also highlights the fact that so much of the world’s knowledge is currently passed along on paper. Preservation of that paper preserves our connection with that knowledge.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book. I never the British Library had all these amazing books there. Makes me want to go and visit it. Half way through the book Jacob asked me if this was a Christian author which lead to a great discussion of author's bias and what type of words could lead you to what the author believes....krb 11/25/17