The Children's Room

The other day I subbed in the children’s room of the small town library where I previously worked part time … two evenings a week. It’s difficult to work at all when your husband is retired and your children and grandchildren live far away. We’re healthy enough and lucky enough to have the means to travel when we wish, and the freedom to do so is very sweet. So when I decided that I didn’t want to work evenings anymore, I thought I was ready to give up the children’s room. For a while it seemed I was right (although I never gave up reading childrens books). But when I walked into that space on a recent cold Saturday morning it really felt like coming home. All the pleasures of the job revealed themselves during the day…. warm greetings from colleagues, seeing the regular Saturday patrons and catching up on their news, getting a hug from a graduate of one of my story hours, and of course, finding just the right books for my young patrons. The day would have been perfect as is but then one of those moments occurred that a children’s librarian is privileged to witness. One of our young regulars was sitting at a table directly in front of my desk. He was engrossed in the book he had been reading for quite some time. A toddler holding his board book, climbed up on the chair with the older boy who made room for him without taking his eyes off his own book. The little one began to “read” softly. I am sure that they did not know each other. They were just two guys sharing the love of books. That day I was reminded of the richness of my career as a children’s librarian … why I’ve loved it so. That’s just one reason I’ll probably always be a not so retired librarian.

Happy 2009!