Library Mascot Cage Match

Unshelved #3

by Gene Ambaum, Bill Barnes

What's so funny about a library? Just about everything, as you'll find out in Library Mascot Cage Match, the third Unshelved collection. In addition to a year's worth of comic strips featuring library mascots duking it out and the return of the masked mystery man known only as "the Shusher," LMCM features the all-new full-color graphic novelette Empire County Strikes Back. Can Mallville's librarians defeat the mother of all bookmobiles?

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Humor, Fiction, Books About Books, Graphic Novels Comics, Adult

120 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 2005

About the author

I write Unshelved with Bill Barnes. I've worked as a paper boy, auto mechanic, courier, English teacher, operations manager, teen services librarian, and staff development coordinator. I enjoy a wide range of graphic novels and am currently obsessed with the work of Lewis Trondheim, Emmanuel Guibert, Hope Larson, and Kazu Kibuishi. My favorite book without words is Owly The Way Home & The Bittersweet Summer by Andy Runton. My favorite book without pictures is Ursula LeGuin's A Wizard of Earthsea.

Reviews

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

What Barnes and Ambaum did well in the previous volumes, they continue to excel at here. If you've worked at a library, especially in the past decade or so, you will definitely identify with the humor here. Unfortunately, some occasional crudity and religion bashing was present; other than that, I enjoyed it.

[sixthreezy · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you work in a library, you should be reading this.

[Amanda [Novel Addiction] · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to read more of this now. I don't have time now, but I want it anyways.

I guess some things are just universal - the same stuff happens in every public library. A lot of this hit really close to home.

Four stars, will be getting the rest of the volumes when I return from vacation. Woot woot.

[Emmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unshelved is such a great series! This book had me cracking up!

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unshelved is always a fun read

[nidah05 (SleepDreamWrite) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another funny collection of comic strips set at the public library. And the many misadventures of its librarians, Colleen, Mel, Dewey, Tamara, Buddy the Beaver, etc. Liking this series more and more. Only 3 volumes in but I think I found a new favorite series.

[Stacey Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun book about library humor. Slacker Dewey tries to do the least amount of work possible, answers patrons questions sarcastically and basically does what he wants at the library. A young computer geek who hangs out and causes trouble, the beaver mascot who does all the dirty work, Tamara, the vegan environmentalist, Meg the mother figure and Coleen who brings her daughter to work and wants to stay in the "old days" without technology...all create an interesting look at the life inside a library....with a lot of humor. Very simple illustrations in black and white, then color, then black and white again. Witty, entertaining, creative and funny.

[angelofmine1974 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each one of these books are a gems for librarians and book lovers. In this one, Dewey goes to the dentists, the librarians fight the evil bookmobile and will Buddy the Beaver win the Mascot Cage Match? You need to read it in order to find out! At least in this book I finally found out that Buddy wears a costume and is not actually a real beaver! That's a relief! I look forward to reading more of these books!

[E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started to see why I should have just waited and read the first couple before reading this one and the fourth one, but I was stupid and read the fourth one first because I didn’t realize it was a series 🤦🏻‍♀️ anyway, now some of the macroplot is spoiled for me, but either way, still a fun and quick read as always. Also, I wish I could get away with saying the kind of things Dewey says, but I guess that’s why it’s fun to read.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

To my knowledge this book includes the first colorized versions of our Mallville Library friends. It changed a bit of who I thought they were just by seeing their hair color. Silly I know, but interesting to me nonetheless.

As always fun library humor. Sometimes a bit dry, but definitely full of love for the library.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title says it all! Plus plenty of the normal Mallvile PL mayhem with Dewey, Tamera, Merv and the rest of the gang! If you like laughing and libraries, you are likely to like this volume.

[Karrie Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great edition of Unshelved. So many random weird things happen at my library and I think it just happens to us. Unshelved shows we aren't the only ones!

[Leena Nanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

So funny! Anyone who likes libraries will love it!

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Unshelved, but it's been so long since I read any of these comics I forgot a lot of things. It took me a while to get back into the groove.

[Penny Ramirez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great fun!

[Ardie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably best understood and appreciated by public librarians and library workers.

[Darinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A series of comic strips that take place in a public library. A humorous comic with quirky characters.

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yay! Go Buddy! Champion of the First Annual Library Mascot Cage Match!

If you work in a library, you'll love this book! If you don't work in a library, there's a good chance you'll enjoy it too! Library Mascot Cage Match is a collection of Unshelved comic strips. I chuckled through the whole thing. It's all about daily life in the Mallville Public Library, with it's eclectic collection of staff and patrons. This particular collection is from early Unshelved strips, before Dewey is married.

Btw, Dewey (YA librarian) and Tamara (children's librarian) are my favorites. Not pertinent to the book review; just sharing.

This book has a bonus! It has a graphic novella in the middle--full color! The graphic novella is titled Empire County Strikes Back and it shows the Mallville staff banding together to defeat Empire County's fancy, shiny new bookmobile that is stealing their patron base.

You can check out the Unshelved comic strip here: www.unshelved.com I get the strip emailed right to my inbox daily. Yay!

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a compilation of sarcastic and satirical comic strips about libraries, librarians, working for a living, working with the public for a living and striving to maintain a public service while rabid politicians are ranting about the need to privatize everything they possibly can unless it effects them personally. With all that said, it's very funny. Here's a dialogue between Mel, the head librarian, and Dewey the young reference librarian:
Dewey: So there I am playing "Spider Solitaire" for like two hours, the same game, trying over and over. Do I give up? No, I persevere.
Finally I look in the help file and do you now what it says? "Not every game is winnable". Not every game is winnable!
Mel: And you did this while you were working on the information desk?
Dewey: My point exactly! All those people waiting in line for no reason!

It's fun, it's relevant. I may have to read the rest in the series.

[The other John · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one is number three in the adventures of Dewey and the other librarians at the Mallville Public Library. It offers the same kind of gags and stories that you'd read in the other collections. This one does feature a "graphic novelette", Empire County Strikes Back. But as a special feature goes, I wasn't too impressed. There were some chuckles, but the ending was a tad too preachy. Still, I'd love to have a copy of it on my shelf.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This paticular "Unshelved" collection portrays the totally fun, yet horrifying experiances of the Summer Reading Program. Looking back to my youth when I was one of those kids who showed up every summer to take advantage of the free activities and a chance to read some of my favorite books for prizes. Now though, speaking as a children's librarian/clerk I can see things from Dewey, Mel, Colleen, and especially Tamara's and Buddy's persepective from the other side of the desk! Great fun! :0)

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't help myself, I love the unshelved comic strips- they are right on in their humor and always make me laugh. This is one of the earlier volumes, and it was nice to see how Dewey met Cathy. Also there is a full color extended storyline in this volume that is called "Empire County Strikes Back," and it was enjoyable. I have learned that non-librarians do not necessarily get the humor in these.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unshelved is a good way to detox from library work, as I'm sure it would be for anyone working in any kind of customer service. It's nice to see that these older strips hold up even though the technology has changed a bit and the Revenge of the Sith references date some parts of the book a little.

I'd highly recommend this comic for anyone with public library experience, or anyone who enjoys a good laugh.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It helps if you're a librarian, of course. But others can find these cartoons amusing. "Unshelved" started as an online comic strip, and then grew to several large paperback books, all featuring Dewey, the young adult librarian, and his colleagues Mel, the library manager, Colleen, the Luddite reference librarian, and Tamara, the children's librarian, plus others as needed, as they deal with Mallville library patrons.

[Jeremy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Comparable to reading the morning funnies, in that it's relaxing and not especially funny. I think I would have liked it a lot in sixth grade; though written recently, it bears the mild irreverence of the mid-to-late 1980's. I feel bad giving something so well-meaning only two stars, but I was too glad when it was over to justify a personal recommendation.

[Duane · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the third in the series that deals with library humor and I'm still waiting for it to get funny. I can relate to the situations because I work at a library, but the gags seemed force and the artwork is just elementary to me.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hmm. The totally cheesey pep talk end to the graphic novel Empire County Strikes Back (although the actual defeat of the bookmobile had me chuckling for days) brought this down one star. And what's happened to Dewey's nose?

[Kit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Contains the incomparable smackdown series in which Buddy has to fight for his right to be "the book beaver" (and Dewey and Merv pursue marketing opportunities). As crazy as things are at the Mallville library, librarians know that it can always be weirder in real life.

[Angel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I continue reading and enjoying this series. This particular volume has a bonus color story, "Empire City Strikes Back," which was quite cute. It was nice to see the gang in full color. Some very good strips here.