Amazing librarians

The other day I wrote about the Librarian Action Figure with AMAZING Shushing Action. Some of you probably thought I was making this up. As Nosy Neighbor can tell you, I most certainly was not. It is an actual toy.

We first came across the Shushing Librarian when we were house hunting. In a house we loved, we were admiring the owner's impressive wall of bookcases and interesting book contents. Tucked amongst Shakespeare and Michener was the Librarian, still encased in her original packaging. She embodied just about every stereotype of librarians you could think of, including the requisite spectacles. A little stack of plastic books was even thoughtfully included. And when you pushed a button in her back, she raised her finger to her lips. No shushing noise accompanied this action, but none was needed. The action said it all.

For some reason this librarian really struck a chord in us. Our agent, who was trying to show us the possibilities in the loft upstairs, came over to see what was so amusing. "This is great!" we said. "We need this librarian." Don't ask me why. It was just one of those things you know you need when you see it, though you can think of no good reason.

We asked our agent, only half-joking, whether the Shushing Librarian came with the house. Our agent, totally joking, said he would ask.

We were very disappointed when we didn't get the house, OR the Shushing Librarian. Our pain was eased with the thought that maybe she DIDN'T come with the house, and so maybe the new owner didn't get all that great a deal. As we resumed our house hunt, we kept an eye out for the toy. We found other similar action figures -- Rosie the Riveter and Nico the Espresso Stand Barista come to mind -- but no Shushing Librarian. One store owner tried to cheer us up by offering us a Sigmund Freud doll. We politely declined.

We have a house we love even better now, but still no Librarian. But, there's always Christmas...