Miss Morgan's Book Brigade

Kit narrates from Blérancourt in May 1919. Kit and Sidonie plan to run the rebuilt library, along with Jeanne, Victorine, and Marcelle. Kit teaches the women about the Dewey Decimal system, and they have fun identifying each other by what “categories” they would belong to, using numbers to classify words that describe themselves. When the two Annes tour the library and Dr. M.D. asks why the children’s section isn’t in the front, Kit impresses her by explaining that it’s near the back so the children can feel safe.

Politicians and reporters come from as far as Paris for the library’s opening, and Kit begins to realize the impact she has had with her bookmobiles, which are famous. Vincent Charon, director of a prestigious library, insults the library by suggesting people of varying classes should have separate libraries and different reading materials, and Kit surprises herself by contradicting him. He furthers the insult by suggesting a woman librarian is only good for dusting the bookshelves, to which Kit replies that “antiquated ideas” are what need dusting (253). Emboldened, Marcelle comes to her side and tells Charon the town likes its library just the way it is.

Eugene Morel, the first librarian to implement the Dewey Decimal system in France, praises Kit for standing up to Charon and suggests Kit come to the capital to create a model library.