Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County is part investigative journalism, part sweeping, multigenerational family story, that reveals a little known event in American history: the period after the Brown vs. Board of Education decision when one Virginia school system—that of the author’s hometown—refused to integrate. Today we welcome author Kristen Green to LibraryLoveFest to talk about her experience with libraries as a place of welcome and encouragement.
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Parenting young children is always difficult, but it was particularly challenging in Massachusetts, a state of seemingly endless winters.
In 2009, I had just completed a stimulating graduate school program and was now home with my newborn and two-year-old daughters. I wanted to get out of the house every day—even bitterly cold ones—to connect with other people and get fresh air. But where to go? Restaurants, coffee shops, and stores were difficult to navigate with my spontaneous, sometimes ill tempered, children. I could feel the other patrons staring through me whenever we entered a business.
Then, it dawned on me to check out the place I had felt at home as a child: the local library. Cambridge’s renovated flagship library had just reopened.
I bundled up the girls and zipped them into blankets on their stroller, then walked briskly to the beautiful new library. Informed by a librarian that I was welcome to take my stroller inside, I smiled and headed for the elevator. At the third floor, the door opened onto a world tailor-made for children and their families. The ceiling was decorated in a canopy of leaves; the reading carpet felt like a bed of river rocks, only softer. The librarians had planned a full schedule of storytelling and sing-along sessions. Children ate snacks brought from home at child-sized tables and chairs. I could nurse in a private spot and change my baby’s diaper in a clean bathroom with a changing table.
I started taking the girls to the library every weekday. When we arrived, my eldest daughter, Amaya, would run up and down the aisles looking for the library’s toddler-sized Curious George stuffed monkey, then lug it around as we perused books. I would park the stroller next to the reading carpet while Selma, my younger daughter, slept. Then I would read with Amaya and watch as she interacted with other children, played with blocks and baby dolls, and colored on paper with crayons the library provided. On the reading carpet, we met up with friends, and we made new ones.
In this town where few indoor spaces felt welcoming to a mother of small children, the librarians embraced my girls and me, and even accepted their unpredictable behavior. Spending time at the public library kept me from feeling isolated and helped us to build community. All the while, books were the backdrop, offering hope that my girls would grow up loving to read as much as I do.
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Thank you, Kristin! Make sure you check out Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County, which Jesmyn Ward, author of Men We Reaped, calls, "Moving and clear-eyed, damning and hopeful: this is an essential read," on sale June 9.
-Amanda