MAD Librarian by Michael Guillebeau
ISBN: 9780997205527 (paperback)
ISBN: 9780997205534 (ebook)
ASIN: B075LQD1LB (Kindle edition)
Publication date: November 16, 2017
Publisher: Madison Press
When the city cuts off funding for her library, Serenity Hammer embezzles from a neglected city fund to keep her library alive. The fund turns out to be a huge secret fund channeling all corruption and political funds for the state. Now Serenity has the money to build the library of her dreams–if she can spend it fast and stay alive.
Half of all income will go to madlibrarian.org to provide small grants to librarians trying to do something innovative for their communities using their libraries.
Library budgets are being slashed everywhere, and that thought brings little consolation to Serenity Hammer when the Maddington Library budget is cut to the bone. Now, she has three days to figure out where to find funds to pay the library’s internet bill. When she approaches the mayor and city council for a restoration of the library’s budget, she’s basically laughed out the door. If Serenity was upset before, she is beyond pissed now. Thanks to the fact the city council has every librarian doing double-duty, Amanda Doom, is now also the town accountant and she and Serenity come across a secret fund, a secret fund with plenty of money. Initially, Serenity just takes enough money from the fund to pay the internet bill and a few other outstanding library needs, like having the plumbing fixed. When she checks the fund again and realizes large quantities of money are coming into the account, she does the unthinkable and has the money channeled to the library and goes on a massive spending spree. The library’s expansion project is not only greenlighted by Serenity but is given a massive upgrade. There’s just one little catch, all of the work has to be done in seven days. This new library will not only be a library, but a community resource with a business incubation center, employment center, daycare center, homeless shelter, and more. The only problem is that someone wants their money back and have started to threaten Serenity. This wouldn’t ordinarily be a problem since she is married to a police officer, but she can’t confide in him about what she’s doing or can she? That argument becomes moot when there’s a murder of a former FBI-agent in the library during a forensic accounting study ordered by one of the city councilmen. Will Serenity tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth to the love of her life? Will Maddington get it’s brand new MAD built before the money guys kill more people?
MAD Librarian was a fast-paced read. Serenity reminds me of the broadcaster in the movie Network that says: “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.” Well, Serenity and the citizens of Maddington are MAD about their new library, the MAD, and they’re willing to do whatever it takes to protect the MAD. Okay, back to the book and the characters: Serenity Hammer is anything but serene; Amanda Doom, walks around in clothing with assorted protest messages and her favorite tagline is “By Any Means Necessary”; Joy Quexnt is the third librarian, a former police officer, and tattoo aficionado; Joe Hammer, local law enforcement officer and Serenity’s husband; the hapless mayor; the library’s pet rat (the rat wouldn’t leave so they decided to keep it); and one city councilman that is also a practicing pediatrician and when townsfolk want to discuss city business when he’s at work bills the talk as a patient visit. There’s a lot of action in the book, they are trying to build a library in seven days! There’s a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor in MAD Librarian as well as outright humor, drama, and some violence. Obviously, there’s quite a bit more going on in the story and if you really want to know more then read the book! If you’re looking for something different to read, and I do mean different (in a good way) and want to support small libraries then I urge you to grab a copy of MAD Librarian to read, you’ll get a madcap read and do some good as well.
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