National Library Week

In honor of National Library Week, I thought I would share a little bit about the two libraries in my life.

First of all, I have been to many public libraries in my life.  I have to say that the public library in my town is my absolute favorite.  It is everything that a library should be.  It is so inviting.  The children's and young adult selections are to the side as soon as you enter.  The children's section is a great place for kids.  Sometimes I don't even make it to the adult section.  I am glad that the children section is separate.  Adults don't have to be bothered by children while they try to read, and parents don't have to worry about the noise level of their children disrupting others.  The section is a big area so that children can run and play.  Multiple times a week, the library offers activities for different age levels for children.  I took Brody once a week last summer and plan to take him again this upcoming summer.  The rest of the library is gorgeous.  When I am feeling down, sometimes I go to the library just to walk around and gain some perspective.  The library offers a large selection of choices and gets new books regularly.  When my friend Jolina Petersheim published The Outcast, I could not find the book in any book store near me.  However, I checked my public library and they had a copy on the shelves within a week of the release date.  There are so many wonderful things I could say about this library, but I will save that for another time.

The other library currently in my life is the library at the high school where I teach.  My school has two wonderful librarians.  They sponsor a book club at the school and are constantly trying to get the students to read.  They host a "blind date with a book" event near Valentine's Day every year.  Often, the librarians will order class sets of books, so that the teachers do not have to use their purchasing money to order books.  These two women are always great references whenever you are looking for something to read.  They are like literary match-makers.

Ben Franklin founded America's first library, the Library Company of Philadelphia, in 1731.  America's first library was founded before America was even a country!  Libraries are so important to our cultural literacy.  I love to read (obviously) and own so many of my own books; yet, books are becoming more and more expensive.  Libraries are great places to borrow books from.  And guess what?  That's their purpose in the first place.  Studies have shown that exposing children to books at an early age improves their reading and cognitive abilities later.  Brody is almost two.  I read to him almost everyday.  His language is beyond that of other toddlers his age.  He is already gaining use of correct pronoun usage (I vs. me) and verb usage.  He has an expansive vocabulary and picks up on things very quickly.  He can sit still for a half an hour, as long as he is reading.  He is far from perfect; yet, literature is helping him develop into a little person.