Reluctantly Alice

This is the third installation in the "Alice" series, and once again I was thoroughly entertained. Like the rest of the series so far, it was poignant, sweet and funny. Rather than rehash my feelings about the series, I'd like to share a favorite passage, which occurs as Alice researches the human body at the public library:

"A librarian came by to get a book from the shelf, and she couldn't help but see what I was looking at; she didn't even blink. Like it was okay to be curious. I felt almost the way I did at the grade school the other day. Safe. Protected.

When I picked out four books for Elizabeth, the man at the checkout desk didn't stare at me or anything, either. He checked out my books on bodies as casually as if I were reading up on the Civil War or photosynthesis or how to build a bird feeder. I had to know if this was just an act or if librarians were always glad to have you read stuff. So just before we left the library, I went over to a woman at the reference desk and asked where I would find a list of nudist camps.

It wasn't just an act, it was real." -p. 90

As a librarian, I realize I'm biased, but to me Phyllis Reynolds Naylor has shown exactly how great libraries can be.