Spring 2025

The Library in the Woods

  • Interest Level: Grade 2 - Grade 5
  • Reading Level: Grade 3

After a storm devastates the farm his parents have been renting, Junior moves with his family to Roxboro, North Carolina. The year is 1959, and the nine-year-old boy has to navigate the realities of the segregated South while adjusting to life in town. Instead of sharecropping, his father works at the lumber mill, and his mother takes in laundry from the white people in town. Junior meets new friends who have a TV—and their own books! These new friends offer to take Junior to the library, and he’s surprised to discover that in a clearing in the forest, there’s a log cabin with a sign over the door: The Negro Library.

The library in the woods feels magical, giving Junior a sense of possibility and community. The books he checks out also help him uncover a secret he never knew about his father.

This fictional account is based on a real-life library author Calvin Alexander Ramsey frequented as a child. Ramsey’s heartfelt text, accompanied by stunning illustrations from award-winning artist R. Gregory Christie, celebrates family, libraries, and the resourcefulness of the Black community.

Format Your Price Add
978-1-5415-9912-3
On pre-order until 04/15/2025
$14.99
979-8-7656-1183-8
On pre-order until 04/15/2025
$24.90
Available at all major wholesalers and distributors. Save 25% off list price on hardcovers and ebooks when you buy direct! Digital purchases will be accessed on Lerner Digital Bookshelf. An account will be created for you after purchase.
Interest Level Grade 2 - Grade 5
Reading Level Grade 3
Genre Picture Books
Category Diverse Books: #OwnVoices, Diverse Books: Race & Ethnicity, Diverse Books: Social Class, Diverse Books: Social Justice, Diversity, SEL: C Social Awareness, Social Emotional Learning
Copyright 2025
Publisher Lerner Publishing Group
Imprint Carolrhoda Books ®
Language English
Number of Pages 32
Publication Date 2025-04-15
Text Type Fiction
BISACS JUV047000, JUV011010, JUV016150
Dewey [E]
Dimensions 9.25 x 11
Guided Reading Level TBD
Features Author/Illustrator biography, Author/Illustrator note, and Original artwork

Author: Calvin Alexander Ramsey

Calvin Alexander Ramsey is an Atlanta-based playwright, photographer, folk art painter, and children’s book author. His plays have been performed across the United States and his picture books have won numerous awards including an ALA Notable Children’s Book, a Jane Addams Children’s Book Award Honor, and a Children’s Book Committee at Bank Street College Best Children’s Book of the Year. He is the father of three children, all of whom are writers.

Illustrator: R. Gregory Christie

R. Gregory Christie’s illustrations have earned him many awards, including a Caldecott Honor, many Coretta Scott King Honors, and multiple spots on the New York Times’ annual Best Illustrated Children’s Books lists. He has been a guest speaker at conferences and libraries and teaches after school art programs all over the world. He lives in Georgia.