Ever since visiting and illustrating Toronto’s 100 libraries, my love of public libraries has grown even more. 

Now, when I’m travelling outside Toronto to cities near and far, I take time to visit their local libraries. 

In honour of Ontario Public Library Week and Canadian Library Month, here’s a confession: from the time that I was around six until I was about ten I thought of my local librarian as one of my best friends, and I didn’t think it was weird. It was a bit of a joke in my family, starting early when I included her name in a school journal entry listing my best friends. But really, when you grow up in a library, why can’t the librarian be a friend?