"We are dedicating your new library," the tall, young woman from Access Books crooned into the hand-held microphone Sept. 3.
"Wow!" came back from 280 parochial school students sitting on the auditorium's floor.
"And we brought 6,000 books!"
Another roar.
With wide exaggerated steps, she paced back and forth in front of four banquet tables stacked high with new children's books. On one cover was a smiling blue donkey; others were adorned with green frogs and red dogs. When she pointed out a Harry Potter classic, the whole auditorium shook with noise.
After the woman was through, the new principal of St. Michael School at Manchester and Vermont spoke to her students. "Is this a day to celebrate?" asked Sister Carol Ward.
"Yes!"
"And what are we going to do?"
"Read!"
"Absolutely," the Dominican Sister of Mission San Jose smiled. "And I know you've been waiting and waiting for this. So we are going to use our library, which is a great, great blessing."
'Reading adventure'
The book blessing came about from a donation from the Page family to Access Books, a local non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of inner-city school libraries. Since 1999, the literacy group has distributed 800,000 books to some 40 urban schools as well as homeless shelters and after-school centers. The Catholic Education Foundation, which provides tuition scholarships to low-income students, recommended St. Michael's --- the first Catholic school to receive books from Access.
Rebecca Constantino began the literacy organization literally out of the back of her car. Its office is still located in her West Los Angeles home, but now thousands of books are stored in a South-Central warehouse. And the enthusiastic young woman is an adjunct professor at the University of California, Irvine, specializing in teaching language acquisition theory and literacy development.
"You learn to read by reading, and you must have something to read," Constantino told The Tidings. "So our goal is to provide enjoyable pleasure books for children to read. The best predictor of how well you read is the number of books to which you have access. That's the best predictor.
"And in poor communities, the quality of the school library is the best predictor. So many kids don't have books in their home. The public library is either too far or dangerous to get to, or it doesn't have good new books. Too many libraries in the inner city are dirty, uncomfortable --- and the librarians don't want little kids there."
Access Books picked St. Michael's because it didn't really have a library, only 300 second-hand books from the '60s collecting dust on a few shelves. But the parochial school did have two adjacent empty classrooms with lots of possibilities.
Today, the second-floor rooms are awash in peaceful pastels and eye-catching wall murals.
The primary grades library has a cozy cloth couch, a white rocking chair occupied by a giant stuffed bear and hassocks for young readers to sit on. But if somebody really wants to get comfortable, there are two inviting soft rugs on the floor: one lined with multi-colored numbers, the other black and white, teaching not only the alphabet but also concepts like hot vs. cold. In the center stand two stations with a dozen IBM computers.
The older students' library also has computers --- 22 flat-screen PCs sitting atop modern desks. The off-white wall bookcases are stocked with new books arranged roughly according to grade level. The floor is polished hardwood. And on one wall are foot-high blue letters, proclaiming "Welcome to a Reading Adventure."
Lifelong learners
"The new library is just a great opportunity for these kids to have more opportunities for reading," Neil Quinly, supervisor of St. Michael's and 41 other urban parochial schools, said after the dedication. "The kids will be able to check out books and take them home, which they couldn't do before. And then, hopefully, the teachers will incorporate, integrate the outside reading into the curriculum.
"So the goal, really, is for kids to become not only comfortable with reading, but enthusiastic about reading. And then they become lifelong readers. So they're not just connecting reading with school and with academics. They're connecting reading with knowledge, with fun, with exploration."
Pat Livingston, superintendent of Catholic elementary schools, agreed. She called the McCammack Family Library Media Center a "tremendous gift" to St. Michael's students. The former English teacher was taken by the generosity of donors to the center, including the John and Dorothy Shea Foundation, the Riordan Foundation, Don McCammack and Family, the 2003 "Day at the Races" guests (who won about $200,000 on a Pick Six ticket at a Santa Anita Racetrack fundraiser last year), the Dominican Sisters' Vision of Hope inner-city program as well as St. Anastasia and St. Charles Borremeo schools who conducted book drives for St. Michael's.
"Just to see the beautiful environment that's also being created for the kids here is so impressive," Livingston said. "The couch, rocking chair and murals on the wall just make it so child-friendly, so comfortable. That's all connected with the love of reading. Snuggling up with a good book --- that's the kind of experience they're creating for the kids."
Sister Ward, the new principal, met over the summer with every parent who has a child in St. Michael's. Their number one question was, "When is that library going to open?" The veteran educator is thrilled that moms and dads are so excited, and hopes to soon turn them into students as well.
"Another dream for this whole area, which is real possible now with our new computers and Internet hookups in each classroom, is to utilize the technology for evening classes for adults," she said. "At the same time, we're gong to expand the print materials for adults, too. So they're able to bring their children here for an evening reading session."
Fifty books and counting
Fifth-grader Nelinie Cayetano --- who likes to read just about any kind of fiction or nonfiction book --- thinks that would be neat. The 10-year-old tries to read twice a day and even more on weekends. She gets most of her books from friends because she can't go to the public library.
Her favorite is "The Shortest Kid in the World." Since second grade, she's read it at least a hundred times. But she already had her eye on that new Harry Potter potboiler just sitting there on the shelf.
"I like to read a lot," Nelinie said with a shy smile, scanning the stacks and computers. "It's wonderful because our library last year never had all the great technology and books. I'm really happy we have so many new books. I'm going to try to read 50 this year." |