My First Library Card

My First Library Card…..

What was the best gift you got for Christmas this year? Well, I can tell you what the best gift one little boy got this year – his very own “library card!” Spencer stopped in at the Cambridge Public Library (during a snowstorm, I might add) with his mom, dad and baby sister on Tuesday, December 30. “He has been waiting for this day for months,” said his mom, Francine.

The library encourages parents to let their children get their very own library card once they can write or print their name. Spencer had been practicing diligently for a long time. “I think he writes better than most adults,” I told his parents that day. It was wonderful to see the excitement in his eyes as he carefully wrote his name on the back of the card. It was also so refreshing to see parents so involved in making this a special moment in their young child’s life.

There are so many reasons for a young child to have a library card. The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children (Becoming a Nation of Readers). Thus, by checking out library materials, a child is on the fast track to success. By giving a child a library card, parents such as Spencer’s, are telling their children that reading is important. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all parents felt the same way?

Give your child a gift of reading, a library card. It is a timeless and classic gift that does not require batteries or any assembly. Plus, it’s free and it doesn't have to be Christmas to get one. Let your child’s library card be the first step in a journey of a lifetime!

By Vickie Sorn, Youth & Community Services Librarian