96 Miles - by J.L. Esplin

A mysterious power outage leaves brothers John and Stew to survive in the Nevada desert without their father. With the help of neighbors they are able to attend a community meeting at their school library. 

Although I understand the importance of libraries as meeting places, I almost skipped posting about this book, as it was the only time a library appeared in the work. However, later in the novel, when I read that their small school housed grades K-12 and had 47 students total I realized the magnitude of the fact that the school even had a library, and in fact had a librarian. In a time when school librarians are being considered superfluous, and school libraries are closing due to lack of staff, we see a world in which libraries are clearly understood to be the essential spaces that we know them to be.