AskALibrarian

Editorial


I have not had an interesting question in days so I thought I would post a little story instead.

Yesterday the computers were all full by 11:00 AM and the kids had all made reservations for the next available slot on the "Computer Booking Terminal". One young man, who is in town for the summer from NY visiting his dad, wandered around a bit and then for the first time all summer, he picked up a book. He not only picked it up, he sat down at a table and read it cover to cover. It was a new book, it had just come in that morning. It was face out, in the New Children's Books area. When I looked up and saw him sitting there reading (mouthing every word) it suprised me, but then I saw what he was reading and it made sense.

He had picked up a children's book about September 11th. It was below his reading level (way more pictures than words) but he sat there, taking his time, and read every page. I wish I had the skills to describe the look on this young mans face as he read. Flashes of anger and then concern flashed across his eyes then he would sit back in his chair and let out a long sigh. It was a gift to see this young man working on figuring out the problem of what happened and what it means. It was satisfying to know that when the computers are all full that these kids will actually pick up a book.

Thirty minutes later he was back to his old self, giggling like only a twelve year old boy can, while talking to some unknown "girl" in the chat room and later pounding on the keyboard so hard that everyone in the library had to turn to see whether or not he was going to get that bad guy.