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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#142: Librarian Love

April 16th is National Librarian Day in the US! You may know your local librarian as the person who helps you find your next great read, but librarians accomplish a lot that we may never notice — acquiring new books, helping patrons conduct research, and working with schools or other community groups. 


Ultimately, a librarian’s main job is to continue democratizing information so everyone can have access to whatever it is they want to learn. Pretty cool!


We believe librarians are massively important public servants in any thriving community, so to celebrate them we’re inviting you to write a story based on one of these five prompts:

This week's prompts

Start your story with someone being given a book recommendation.

Middle School – 33 stories

Write a story about a librarian that doesn’t fit into the common librarian stereotypes.

Fiction – 62 stories

Write about a character on the hunt to solve a mystery who uses their local library (or librarian) as a source of information.

Thriller and Suspense – 25 stories

Write a story that includes one character reading aloud to another.

Dialogue – 30 stories

Write about somebody who likes to work in silence.

Dialogue – 25 stories

Stories

“The Mystery of the Missing books” by Joan Dorosario

Submitted to Contest #142

The Mystery of the missing books The local library was a wooden structure on the edge of town, which had served as the town’s drinking hall during the boom days of the colonial times. That was when the town had been a thriving center of trade between the islands around the mainland. It boasted of a schoolhouse, a Church, a government building, a City Hall, and a flourishing marketplace, with the attached bar and saloon. Nestled along the shores of the river, mountains and forests surrounded the town. The foothills of the mountain range, whe...

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“Inheritance ” by Shawn O'Connor

Submitted to Contest #142

The lawyer plopped a folder onto the desk labeled “Moira MacTavish” onto the desk. Moira’s lawyer had made a promise and agreed not to take any peeks at the contents of the folder until she had passed on, which she had done so three days ago. “Your late mother has asked that I be referred to as just, Lawyer,” stated the Lawyer. “That doesn’t surprise me in the slightest,” replied Katherine. “My mother always was a bit of an eccentric.” Katherine was Moira’s only daughter and the middle child of her siblings. Though, due to being the only...

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“Tied up with a love for books” by Esther Beshirová

Submitted to Contest #142

I. Beep. Beep. Beep. The monotonous sound of the code scanner kissing the greasy bindings of the books lent to the public library readers was becoming tiresome. It echoed at least twenty times per minute, and as the hours passed and his body slowly began to writhe with fatigue, he could no longer perceive the repetitive play from any distance. He usually came to work with an upbeat attitude, convinced that his time in the library was worthwhile. The beeping of the small machine was more motivating in the morning – he could hear the s...

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“Sleeping Hours” by Julia Kinderknecht

Submitted to Contest #142

“Must she read that to him?” Woon grumbled, settling into the purple haze and folding his gargantuan legs beneath him. He scowled at the images which hung flickering before him. “His dreams have been so influenced lately by his bedtime stories. If she knew that, she would surely not read him a book about a captive lion who is set free by a mouse. Who knows what manner of dystopias I will be forced to create this night.”  Woon resented the position he had been given in the universe. He was bound by an oath at the core of his being, and...

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“Stories” by Erika Fisher

Submitted to Contest #142

"Once upon a time," the story started. "There was a young woman named Rose. She was as beautiful as the flower she was named after." The library was quiet. Ethel scooted closer to Geneva, enjoying her friend's narration. It was a Saturday morning. Both had gotten up early to finish a school project at their local library. The last project before graduation. They were researching when they found the tome of fairy tales.  "She was locked in an enchanted castle," Geneva continued. Her and Ethel sat on the floor at the end of an empty ais...

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“Angels And Hot Chocolate” by Kate Kilbee

Submitted to Contest #142

My Pampas grass was whirling and twirling like a dancer wearing a feather dress. Before long the branches would be snapped clean off.  The storm was wild that evening. Clouds scudded through the sky at speed. The weather forecast had predicted the wind increasing to sixty miles an hour with gusts of eighty. There was even the odd crack of thunder expected.  On my drive home I'd seen people being pushed and pulled in all directions, in some cases being lifted completely off their feet whilst their shopping, yanked from their han...

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“Silence for Ralph Smiley” by Sara M

Submitted to Contest #142

Ralph Smiley confidently looked in the mirror. His upcoming novel was going to make him financially secure, and his hidden talent as a writer would finally be revealed to the ruthless world.   He smiled at himself and straightened his collar. People were going to be shocked, especially the ones who thought he was slow. Finally, after all this time, he would have the last laugh.  For the past 30 years Smiley had worked hard at the shoe factory. Being on the tail end of the assembly line required a treme...

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“Gethsemane” by Leticia Mooney

Submitted to Contest #142

Dust motes danced in the light that fell from a window under the ceiling. The library wasn't busy. It was a forgotten little place, unlike the city library. The city library wasn't really a library any more. It was more of a computer hub, a place for bored schoolkids to go and play computer games or stare at screens instead. This wasn't like that. This was an old-school library: Filled with volumes of all kinds. It had a musty smell of paper. Librarians wafted through like monks. The atmosphere was hushed. Nobody ate at their desks while p...

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“Remember” by Melissa Woods

Submitted to Contest #142

"Hmm. You said you wanted another western…" The librarian scanned the upper shelves. "Ah. Here. Lonesome Dove. I think you'll enjoy this one." He pulled the book from its tier and handed it down to the man beside him.  "What's your name, again?" "Absalom." "Absalom. Always liked ‘Absalom.’ That's my son's name,” Mr. Danberg said, scanning the book. "Hm." He held it at arms-length and peered down his nose. His mouth hung slightly open as he scanned the blurb on the jacket's inner fold. Snapping it closed, he smiled up at the libraria...

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“Deja Vu” by UJAAN DAS

Submitted to Contest #142

Morris reached for the cup of coffee on the windowsill with one hand, his other hand being used as a bookmark for the book he was reading. He took a sip of the coffee, which was no longer piping hot like when he made it - he was so engrossed in the book that he was reading, he had hardly paid any attention to the coffee in the last hour. He was oblivious of the real world, oblivious of the wooden armchair he was sitting in, oblivious of the hard splashing raindrops on his window, for during the last one hour, he had spent his time in a diffe...

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“The Life of a Book” by Sawyer Fox

Submitted to Contest #142

I sat there on the shelf, waiting, as the lights of the store finally flickered to brilliant life. Release Day. Below me sat ten of my siblings stacked smartly and tidily on the glistening mahogany table. Above me, a beautifully handwritten sign that read “New Release Staff Recommendations”. I was a recommendation! I had been chosen by the store employees to be propped up with my cover brilliantly displayed. At ten o’clock sharp, the store employee unlocked the door and it did not take long at all. Within a few minutes, a customer came in an...

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“The Librarian's Announcement ” by Dee Leger

Submitted to Contest #142

Miri Anaan (pronounced Meeri Anon) has been my Librarian since I was a child. Her signature is on my first Library card. She has encouraged my love of reading since the very first book I borrowed. She is a striking woman, even now as she enters her Golden Years. Tall, trim, medium brown skin. Those that feel the need to be politically correct call her African American. She always laughs that off. A full hearty laugh, and says despite her admiration for that culture she isn't remotely African, some of the library patrons have asked her if ...

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“ "On my last visit to the library"” by Fortunatus Eze

Submitted to Contest #142

Honestly, I do not remember the last time I visited the library since I moved from my old apartment in Florida State to live in Arkansas as a kid. I guess it was at age 8 or 10 not too sure. Well doesn't matter, my father had decided at the time, that we give up on our old cramped apartment for a new spacious one that would be fit to accommodate our six members family to live in comfort.However, i do remember and possibly will never forget even at age 110 (by then, already struck by the aging curse of dimentia), how the interiors of a librar...

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“The Librarian” by Jim Loughran

Submitted to Contest #142

The LibrarianI have been going to the local library near the Court House in Omagh, County Tyrone for the last twenty years, since I was a teenager in fact, when it became my retreat from the world. The library is housed now in a modern red brick building but at that time it was in a rather run down Victorian building in the centre of the town. There was a reading corner with a bay window overlooking the busy main street and it provided an oasis of calm where I could read books on anything from the collapse of the Assyrian Empire to the rise ...

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“I'm diMucci” by Colin Taylor

Submitted to Contest #142

 di’Mucci. Randell slumped on his bunk. Hands pressed to his ears. Noise was his constant companion. Orders were hurled and foul-mouthed, rarely compliant, responses, were masked in the clatter of cell doors opening and shutting, keys rattling and turning and endlessly marching, echoing feet. The bedlam drummed a constant rhythm into Randell’s brain. For a month, Randell had been the butt of every joke, defenceless against every thuggish bully. They thought it amusing to upend his cell furniture and tear to shreds his precious p...

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$250

Prize money

175

Contest entries

129

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Apr 22, 2022 EST

Won by Deidra Whitt Lovegren 🏆

Title: What You Can Do With Your Book

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

Prompts | Many Hands | 2024-09

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