“Books were my window on the world. Growing up at the Elephant and Castle, which was very rough, my paradise was the library.”
Michael Caine

Books remain windows to the world for so many of us. We store our hopes, our interests, our dreams and our escapes in bookcases, waiting for free moments to dive into pages that provide us with succor and flight, diversion, learning and enlightenment. The more we read, the larger our personal worlds become.

My school’s library is about to be shut for renovation for the rest of the year. A well-known, local corporation has offered to refresh my school’s little collection of aged books. Renovations are greatly needed so I am not complaining. If I get a chance this week, maybe I will go look for that book on African-Americans that I stumbled on last year. My favorite quote, “Negroes may even be your teachers.” We need new books.

I hope the library will have a bank of computers next year — currently it has two — as well as updated materials. I regret the spring closing of the library. Still, any plan to update the library has my backing. I’ll add to my to-do list the need to talk to language arts teachers about pushing town library cards. Too many students here have no books in their homes. I wish we could renovate the library during the summer, given that my district already has severe reading challenges, but this upcoming closure likely results from corporate vacation schedules.

Eduhonesty: Any nitpicking here aside, I’m extremely happy about the library remodeling.