April is Poetry Month. Here we go!

It is warmish, and I am sitting in a sunny spot paging through poetry books. Poems pull at my sleeve and try to climb into my lap. They clamor to be included in the month's festivities. I think of my stalwart contest participants from previous years, and I picture them reciting these poems from memory.

Why memorize a poem? In her gorgeous anthology, Poems to Learn by Heart, Caroline Kennedy, says, "Poets distill life's lessons into the fewest possible words. If...things seem to be falling apart, we can recall a poem that reassures us. If we find ourselves in unfamiliar or frightening surroundings, a poem can remind us that others have journeyed far and returned safely home. If we learn poems by heart, we will always have their wisdom to draw on, and we gain understanding that no one can take away."

I want to close by thanking my 8th grade teachers for making us memorize Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken. I don't think any of us cared one bit about it at the time, but all these years later is is still there, like a soundtrack to my life.

"Big brick building, how sweet it looks, 
take me in to the land of books.
It's been in your town for a hundred years, 
let's give the library three big cheers!hip-hip-hooray!
hip-hip-hooray!
hip-hip-hooray!"

Garrison Keillor  got it right in his Library Cheer*. I'm sure we can all recall our childhood library. Mine was the Hillsdale Public Library, and I remember kneeling down in front of a dim corner shelf to get the next Little House in the series. It was such a thrill when the book I needed was in.

But now, with any and all information immediately available, do we still have something to cheer about in our library?

The answer is a firm, strong, and loud (no shushing here) yes! Please stop back to read about all the new things happening in the East Brook and West Ridge libraries, as well as ideas to help your child make reading memories to savor.

*(Presenting Readers Theater. Caroline Feller Bauer. 1987)