It's the eve of a big week! Share a Story - Shape a Future begins tomorrow and goes until Friday.
To celebrate, I'm offering a contest in conjunction with A Visit to the Library day (hosted right here on Thursday, March 12 - y'all come!). It's simple and there are two ways to win - either send me an email (evasbookaddiction at gmail.com) with a labeled photo of your favorite library OR write a one-sentence comment to this post that begins "My favorite library is (blank) because..."
Or both!
I've got a bunch of great books to give away, both picture books and chapter books. See this slide show to find out which ones. You have until the end of the day Friday to enter. Winners will be selected randomly (via "Sorting Hat") and will be announced Monday, March 16. Any photos I receive will be posted Monday as well (unless you request otherwise).
Have a fabulous week week celebrating books, reading, kids, and libraries.
My favorite library is The Salt Lake City Library because that is where my husband proposed. I had never been to the library before that day, but that year (2006) it was voted Library of the Year. It is an amazing library, with gardens on top, fireplaces, waterfalls... we toured the library and then my husband took me to a little outcropping in the children's section call the attic. It is a little secluded room that looks like an attic. We happened to be all alone and there he proposed. We went back to the library a few months later to take our engagement pictures. My husband decided to propose to me in a library because he knew how much I loved books and libraries.
ReplyDeleteOh, man! Books and romance. How can we top that? My most memorable library experience - walking into the NYC library. My favorite library spot: the third floor of the University of Charleston (WV) - All the "high Deweys" were there and very few students. I can still smell those stacks!
ReplyDeleteWow, that is the most romantic story ever, Kristi! I'm kinda jealous. And ReadingTub, your comment made me remember my childhood, when libraries smelled like furniture polish and dust and paper.
ReplyDeleteI think my favorite library is my college library, because some friends and I discovered the secret path to the roof. I liked knowing how to get to that random little door that opened onto the roof, even if I was too scared of heights to hang out there regularly.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite library is any library because exuberances overflows on every shelf.To walk into a library is like walking into a parallel universe. So many diverse cultures and adventures are waiting to be told. Books are treasure chest whispering tales of the imagination.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite libraries are bookmobiles because they bring the books to you! When my son was younger we lived in a small township that a bookmobile visited and every week we eagerly awaited its arrival. I haven't been on one in awhile, but there's something wonderful about stepping on board a bus full of books. I think it would be fun to drive :)
ReplyDeleteKristi's story is now officially my favorite proposal story <3
These are wonderful! It occurs to me that I love my local library (which isn't where I work, although I used to) because (among other assets) it has a huge and free parking lot. Gotta love that...!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite library is the one just around the corner. It is not the best library I've ever been in, but it's OUR library and we bought this house in part because of it. I've been taking my daughter there since we moved in and she thinks of it as HER library, of course. Did I mention we can walk to it? Outside of college, I've never had that before and I love it. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI grew up in a very small town of only 400 people but despite the size the downtown included a public library. When I was 4 my mom signed me up for my very own library card. (I was number 21 - they had just started using library cards that year!) While the total footage of the library equaled only 707 sq ft, I was always able to find something interesting to read. Every summer during my youth I attended the summer library program. Many happy memories!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite library is the Lincoln Library in Springfield, IL because of the awesome and FREE literacy events they host for children.
ReplyDeleteMy favourite library is my first library. It's the one where the wondrous world of books was opened to me, and I was given the key to my future happiness - a library card!
ReplyDeleteI still recall the musty yet delightful smell of yellowing pages, dust motes dancing in stray sunbeams that pierced dingy windows, and the wobbly wart on the elderly librarian's chin. Or perhaps I'm making that last part up.
That first library was in an old suburban School of Arts building in Sydney, NSW, Australia. We couldn't afford to own many books, but that's where I first realized that "borrow" meant "lovingly own for a short while".
My kids favorite library right now is our local library. Not just because it is local. It is called the 'loud library.' My kids are 7 and three and when they go to the library they want to be read too. The Sherwood Hall Regional library turned an unused room near the children's section into a play-read together room. My kids can grab a huge stack of books and go in there and we can read them together. Then when they want a break they can do some puzzles or even run around the ABC rug for a few minutes and no one in the library would be disturbed. I like it because the room is enclosed with glass so I can let them sit and look for more picture books or age approriate books while keeping an eye on them.
ReplyDeleteBut if you asked me what my favorite library memory is it would be that warm feeling I got when I worked on a paper at the Library of Congress. The smells and the work tables were just very 'romantic and warm'. I was just really lucky because my mom worked there. That is what happens when your the kid of a librarian. Your idea of romance comes from the smell of dusty books?
Wow, these are veritable odes to libraries. Can't wait to announce the winners on Monday (will be chosen randomly, 'cause I'd never be able to choose between all of you otherwise!).
ReplyDeleteThis is like asking me to pick a favorite book. Ugh!
ReplyDeleteI visit and use many different libraries, but right now I'm lovin' the Los Feliz Branch of the L.A.P.L.
The Children's Librarian there is so cool, and she makes yummy cupcakes for the kids to eat after the weekly LACMA-led art class.
It's a cozy spot to hang out with books in the megalopolis of L.A.
My favorite library is Herrick District Library in Holland, MI. Why? The children's librarians there are fantastic. They greet my three kids by name, they find books for me that they think I'd like, they offer entertaining children's activities AND they love what they do. I want to be one of them when I grow up!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite library is always the one that I'm closest too...so right now that would be the Allen, Texas Public Library. I love the library because every shelf brims with possibility. Possibility to learn something new, try a new recipe or craft project, meet a new culture or just take a much needed vacation.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of space my favorite library would be the Indianapolis-Marion County downtown library. Just a beautifully designed house for books.
My favorite library is the Richland Community Library (in Richland, PA) because I could walk there with my toddler daughter every single day and enjoy the books and the company! It is a very small library, but it is a community library in the truest sense. The librarian and her staff have done all that they can (with a limited budget) to make it inviting, accessible to all ages, and a place that promotes reading and literacy! Even though we have since moved away from that town, I still donate my materials and $$ to them, and I still try to get over there at least once a month to check out how things are!
ReplyDeleteI love visiting other libraries. It's great to see new displays, new books, and other details found in each library. Yet with all the looking and loving of libraries, I always return to my home library - Menasha Public Library. It's such a comfort to know where everything is located and knowing the people who work there. I have a library day with my girlfriends, where we visit once a week and I always feel so lost when I miss my library day. The beauty and power of libraries, they change lives.
ReplyDeleteI just sent you all what you asked for and i am in.
ReplyDelete