New Technology World

Library Note: I like big books

Released at 12:00 am on Saturday, August 20, 2022

Paul Burkhead
Rowan Public Library

I like big books I love pages jam-packed with large drawings and great color photographs, and I love seeing library goers check them out and take them home to enjoy. It always makes me smile when I see school-age kids with giant books about dinosaurs on the counter wishing to carry them to the car themselves.

If you have a kid who loves fairy tales, planets and dinosaurs, you should let him explore the Rowan Public Library’s Boys Collection. The J 398.2 section has folktales, fairy tales and fables from around the world. A very large and colorful book there is Stephen Kershaw’s Mythology. Children of all ages will enjoy artistic representations of characters from Greek mythology. Nearby is a section on astronomy and cool books like When the Stars Come Out: Exploring the Magic and Mysteries of the Nighttime by Nicola Edwards. This big book explains how different habitats and the animals that live there react when day turns to night.

Many children are fascinated by dinosaurs someday. If there’s one subject that deserves a big book, it’s dinosaurs. From massive bodies to massive spines to massive teeth, these prehistoric creatures leave researchers in awe. If you happen to check in, take a peek at Angela Wilkes’ The Big Book of Dinosaurs. The toothy grin of the T-Rex on the cover tells you this is a book that deserves attention.

Adults also like to flip through big books. Sometimes these items are in what we call the oversize section, but most of the time they’re scattered all over the stack.

Most of the books for adults are super-large books on dinosaurs, but there are also super-large books on cars and agricultural equipment. For example, Justin Lukach’s Pickup Trucks: A History of the Great American Vehicle has some great photos, as does the book titled Classic & Collectible Tractors.

Objects of study in the natural world also produce an enormous amount in the library. You can spend hours flipping through the beautiful pages of Alex Bernasconi’s ‘Wild Africa’ or Thomas Marent’s ‘Butterfly’. In the South Library’s new non-fiction section, the bright red cardinal on the cover of Tim Flack’s “Birds” always catches my eye as I pass by. Nearby is the National Geographic publication Ocean: A Global Odyssey, written by Sylvia Earle. Inside the book, you’ll find glorious photographs of the world’s oceans and the magnificent creatures that inhabit them.

If you like big books with big colorful drawings and photos, check out the plus-size items in the Rowan Public Library’s collection. Your arms and back may not appreciate you taking them home, but your eyes and heart will.

Paul Birkhead is a librarian at the Rowan Public Library.