In this stunning and uplifting true story of community, a neighborhood comes together in the wake of a library fire to save the stories within, offering a timely reminder of the essential role libraries and books play in our communities.
A library is a keeper of stories. A keeper of memories. A keeper of hope. But what happens when that keeper is threatened?
When a fire broke out at New York’s Jewish Theological Seminary library in 1966, firefighters raced to the rescue. But by the end of the day, thousands of books had been turned to ashes and the ones that remained were on the brink of ruin. The community was devastated. Would the priceless stories in those waterlogged pages be lost forever? Or could helping hands from every background and corner of the neighborhood come together to become keepers of stories, too?
This powerfully told and lushly illustrated true story is a welcome example of how we all can come together to keep libraries and the books within safe for generations to come.
Release date: February 4, 2025
Sydney Taylor Book Award Picture Book Honor
California Reading Association’s 2025 EUREKA! Nonfiction Children’s Book Award
Publisher’s Weekly Best Book of 2025!
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection!
The Conscious Kid Social Justice Book Club Selection!
*”A stirring testament to the power of books to unite us all for good…Pritchard’s forceful writing is marked by inspired turns of phrase. A recurring refrain set in blue type—“Keep our stories alive”—is breathlessly addressed to the walls of the library, to the firefighters’ blankets, to the sprays of rushing water, and to the pages themselves.”
– Kirkus Reviews, *STARRED REVIEW*
* “Readers are pulled into the desperate fight to save irreplaceable treasures throughout a work that emphasizes the keeping done not only by libraries but by communities and people, too—guardians of memory and meaning, preserving the past for future generations.”
– Publishers Weekly, *STARRED REVIEW*
*”Pritchard declares, “You and me, we will keep our stories alive,” celebrating the community effort and the importance of books. The evocative illustrations are rendered in acrylic paint, colored pencil, and collage, as well as& found objects, such as stamps and pages from books, capturing the destructive power of the fire and, more importantly, the diverse community efforts to preserve the library’s stories.”
–Booklist, *STARRED REVIEW*
“VERDICT: An inspirational instance of people spontaneously coming together to help out in the wake of a natural urban disaster.”
– School Library Journal
“This story focuses equally on the effort that brought a community together, on the importance of libraries as repositories of stories, and on the books themselves as representatives of history and culture.”
– The Horn Book
