The Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffenegger

I must return the The Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffenegger today - right away. I checked it out a week ago but just now read it. If I had known how magical and moving it is, I would have read it right away so I could get it back on the graphics novel display quickly. I want others to have a chance to read it.

The act of reading and discovering your books is what The Night Bookmobile is all about. Its central character is Alexandra, a young woman whose difficult relationship with a young man sometimes compels her to walk the streets of Chicago after midnight. On one such evening she discovers a bookmobile in a Winnebago. The wise librarian invites her in, and she stays until dawn longingly scanning a collection that she has already read.

Though I want to get The Night Bookmobile back onto the graphic "novel" display, it is really a short story. Niffenegger first published it in 2004 in the journal Zoetrope All Story, she illustrated it for The Guardian in 2008 and Abrams Comicarts put into book form in 2010. While it creates a dream-like mood and is a bit sad, its existence is a happy fact for my library, which is promoting graphic novels in its adult summer reading program and short stories as this year's feature genre on its reading blog Thommy Ford Reads.

People who enjoy this book by Niffegegger, might also enjoy books by Neil Gaiman. He wrote the promotional paragraph on the back cover for The Night Bookmobile.

Niffenegger, Audrey. The Night Bookmobile. Abrams, 2010. ISBN 9780810996175.