Last week I announced in a post that the New York Society Library was dedicating a reading nook in the children’s room in my honor. On March 26th, the Library staff held a lovely unveiling ceremony for me and I was blown away when I arrived. I had assumed they would be putting up a small plaque on a wall in the corner, but instead look what I found.
In the corner, they had posted a temporary listing of all the generous folks who donated to the Library’s renovation by supporting the naming of my reading nook.
Donations are still coming in so the plaque will not be set in brass until the campaign is over.
Friends and family members from near and far gathered to view the “unveiling” which consisted of me pulling down a strip of crepe paper that Randi and Susan, the always prepared children’s librarians, had suggested we use to “hide” the stenciled banner as people gathered.
Carolyn the library director, and Roger who spearheaded the initiative, both spoke about the history of the library and my connection to the place through my books and my family. And then it was my turn.
The whole event was both thrilling and a bit embarrassing as I’m a writer who likes to work in solitude and who prefers to have the audience focus on one of my books, not necessarily on me.
However, I smile when I think of a child walking under the entrance to that cosy, private corner of the children’s room so that she or he can sink into the world of a book just like the boy behind me in the first photo. He is curled up on a cosy bench completely oblivious to the comings and goings around him because the book he is reading has captured his undivided attention.
Is that not every writer’s dream?
