The Little Wartime Library: A gripping, heart-wrenching WW2 page-turner based on real events

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Informative and enlightening, heart-wrenching yet hopeful, this is a story that will stay with me. Fans of historical fiction and stories revolving around libraries would certainly enjoy this novel. I’m really struggling with what to write about this book. I tried to major in the Library Media Specialist program at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a major in the program because I was disabled and I want to give a giant shout out to Ann Zarrinia and Eileen Shroeder who ran the department together and the head librarian of the Palmyra Public Library whose name I have forgotten during 2010 which refused to let me complete my internship for not allowing me to complete my major. There’s a very interesting author’s note in the book that mentions librarians helping the mentally disabled and look at how they helped me!

With so many people homeless and living in this underground world, Clara is determined to make sure that there is still books for them to read and does everything she can to encourage more people into the library she and her assistant and best friend glamourous Ruby Munroe have started a children’s bedtime reading session and also a book club for anyone who wants to join in, in these times not only do these people read and listen to some great books they also find friendship and the support that is needed. They start a travelling library for the factory workers who can’t get to the library they also have pamphlets on different issues for woman in desperate need.What works so well is that there is no guarantee of a happy ending for anyone, creating moments of deep emotion. Satisfying layers of depth Amongst the plethora of WW2 stories, The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson is a shining beacon of factual truth, authenticity and beautifully written fiction. The Little Wartime Library was a haven for people. It did so much more than hand out books. It helped children to learn to read, to come to terms with loss of family to help those living in the underground to bear the long hard years that war brought to their homes and cities. Young childless widow Clara Button is doing her bit for the war effort, running Britain’s only Underground Shelter Library.... Our barbarous foes may be hell-bent on burning London to the ground, but beneath the city’s surface, Mrs. Button calmly carries on stamping books and ensuring everyone has a thumping good read to take their mind off the bombs." Wonderful quotations from real people appear at the beginning of each chapter, and there are references to known, much loved, books. In this way The Little Wartime Library is not only a warm, engaging and entertaining 1940s story, but is a glorious love letter to libraries, librarians and the sheer joy of reading.

In the now disused undergrown tube stations of London, there is a community of people living in makeshift shelters, after being forced out of their homes by Nazi bombs. There is to be found, at the underground station of Bethnal Green something truly remarkable - the country’s only underground library, which was created by Librarian, Clara Button, after the original library above ground was destroyed in the bombings. Clara ( who I immediately liked ) has created a library as part of a secret community that makes it’s home in the dis-used Bethnal Green tube station! It really is a secret world down there with amongst other things a theatre,a nursery and a cafe The Little War Time Library is such a touching and heart-wrenching story based on true events. I think the fact it is based on true events adds even more emotion and real emotion to this book.A library is the only place you can go—from cradle to grave—that is free, safe, democratic and no one will try to flog you anything. You don’t have to part with a penny to travel the world. It’s the heartbeat of a community, offering precious resources to people in need. It’s a place just to be, to dream and to escape—with books. And what’s more precious than that? So, here’s to all library workers. We need you.” Goodreads е постигнала изключително висок рейтинг! Ако някой не може да си представи какво може да направи една война с човешката природа; до какво може да доведе липсата на човечност у Хомо Сапиенс и как четенето на книги от децата ни може да спре възможността им сами да мислят и преценяват света - нека прочете The Little Wartime Library. Деца са бъдещето ни ! А библиотеките и училищата са мястото, където ще го направят светло! За да Kate has such a talent for bringing history to vivid life. Utterly transporting, vivid and fresh."— Iona Grey, bestselling author of Letters to the Lost Kate Thompson is unafraid to present difficult issues like domestic abuse, loss, guilt and mental health problems. Yet they never make the story maudlin or depressing. London, 1944: Clara Button is no ordinary librarian. While war ravages the city above her, Clara has risked everything she holds dear to turn the Bethnal Green tube station into the country’s only underground library. Down here, a secret community thrives with thousands of bunk beds, a nursery, a café, and a theater—offering shelter, solace, and escape from the bombs that fall upon their city.

But this book is so much more than that. I do not think enough of this review can do it justice. Clara, Billy, and Ruby are such stunning characters. They are patriots, courageous, passionate, realistic, imperfect, and are excellent in this story. Based on real life events, Kate Thompson has penned a beautifully written fictional story, which oozes strength and courage, resilience, resistance, and defiance. And the mainstay at the heart of this story is Clara Button.The underground library becomes the center of the community. In addition to living in constant threat of bombing, the librarians have to deal with their patrons' controlling, abusive husbands; administrators bent on censorship; unsupervised children; and safety concerns, such as a rapist roaming the streets. Most of the men in this story have a Gaston-like attitude that women shouldn't be reading books and getting ideas. Their responsibility is to be beautiful, get married, have babies, and essentially be mindless slaves to their husbands; nevermind all the war widows, there's little compassion for them. This is just the story we need right now – a tale of ordinary people doing extraordinary things to keep hope alive, and to give a community adrift in wartime a sense of home. The Bethnal Green underground library might be the beating heart of the book’s subterranean village, but Clara is the soul of this novel. She’s the kind of character you cheer for, cry for, and dream for. Kate Thompson’s passion, meticulous research and brilliant storytelling make The Little Wartime Library an utter delight to read.”— Natasha Lester, New York Times bestselling author Library work isn’t all about books. It’s the people who make it special; you never know who’s going to walk in and what their story is.” It is, perhaps, the least pretentious branch library yet built. Fifteen feet square, it is mere sentry box of a place. We could have done with more room but the powers that be did not see eye-to-eye with us.” My favourite character throughout was Ruby. Bold, brassy and brave she epitomised the bulldog tenacity of the Eastend people. She's certainly someone you would want to have as an ally. She was, almost, like Clara's conscience. Encouraging her and pushing her to do things she might have let go. The friendship between them was special.