Thoughts From a Lower School Librarian

“I think that children have more imagination, and there’s more suspension of disbelief for them. There has to be some sort of mystical element in children’s reading to get the attention of kids. I think that in adult fiction people will read it to read it. You know? Adults will give it more of a chance. But if there’s not something really special that captures children right away in a book, then they’re not going to stick with it. Children can read a lot of fantasy and things that don’t make sense, and they read about things that couldn’t happen in the real world. But to them, a good author can make it seem like it really could happen. Kids are more willing to believe, whereas adults are more cynical and some of that magic is lost. I would part of the reason I came into this career was that sort of appeal. When I was going into college, I found myself drifting into the children’s book section, even as a young adult, and re-visiting some of that stuff. It felt like magic to me. The memories were so strong, and there was so much that was special. I don’t have those types of associations with books I have read as an adult.

I definitely believe that the books we read when we are younger impact us. I’ve heard that from a lot of other people, and I know that has been my personal experience. I don’t think I would do the job that I am doing right now if I hadn’t been affected by so many books as a child. I have kids ask me, ‘What is your favorite book?’ all the time and that’s an impossible questions to answer because there are so many that are special to me. It’s so much more than just the books you read; it’s also the experience you have reading them with others. When you read a book to a group of kids, and they are clearly enjoying it, and then at the end they want you to read it again, it feels really good. It feels very validating. For the first time ever in Mrs. Inaba’s class, I read a book to them, and some of the girls wanted to write down the name so they could go home and buy it on Amazon. I thought that was such a huge compliment. The book was so great to them that they wanted to have their own copy. It just lets me know I impacted them.”