Greetings from the library! It’s been a very busy fall and winter re-opening our space after a year-and-a-half COVID pause. We’ve taken this opportunity to revamp our resources, expanding the early reader science and chapter book offerings and adding new shelving and comfy seating for younger readers. Older kids continue to enjoy our fantastic middle reader and non-fiction selections and are collaborating on a series of book displays for the community. It’s a delight to hear the space humming again with excited readers.
This fall also saw the arrival of the K-2 Spanish classes and the Crossroads strings program to the library. After school, you’ll find kids in the aftercare program busy at work at the library tables or creating at the LEGO wall. Ms. Nadeau has been curating a series of fantastic displays of student art around the room. We are so happy to be able to integrate this beautiful space more deeply into community activities. We’re hopeful that by next fall we’ll be able to once again open our doors to parent volunteers.
Library resources are part of the backbone of learning at Crossroads. For this reason we take our collection development seriously, making sure that our offerings reflect both emerging and foundational knowledge and ideas. Our Birthday Book donation program is one important way that families can participate in this effort. Birthday Books are an opportunity for children and families to contribute to our community in a way that reflects their own connection to books and learning. Children can choose to decorate a bookplate and/or celebrate their book during library time to mark its addition to the permanent collection.
Families are always welcome to choose a donation from our Amazon wish list or contribute a book that has special significance to their child. This year, we are also encouraging support for our local independent bookstores: Hanover’s Still North Books and Bar and the Norwich Bookstore. Once you have your book, your child can bring it to the library and choose how they would like to celebrate. If you would like to ship the book directly to the school library with a gift note indicating your child’s name and birthday, that works, too!
As always, please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.