Staff Review: "Thomas Jefferson Builds a Library" by Barbara Rosenstock

“Thomas Jefferson Builds a Library” written by Barbara Rosenstock, and illustrated by John O'Brien is the story of Thomas Jefferson the reader, not the President. Thomas Jefferson read every subject and collected books, an expensive hobby as one book might cost more than the average person would earn in a lifetime. When Thomas became President he expanded the Library of Congress, a very small library at the time, and hired the first librarian to run it. When Britain once again went to war with the United States in 1814 the Library of Congress was burned. Thomas Jefferson sent more than 6,500 books from his personal library to rebuild the Library of Congress. If you like to read, and who doesn't, you will enjoy this story of a voracious reader and how important he was to his country and its main library. He was a man that may not have become President had he not learned so many things about the world from reading many books.

Mary G., Grand Glaize