I spent a couple hours today cleaning the Brooklyn Public library at Clinton Hill. We organized the children’s section and juvenile fiction sections.

It wasn’t riveting work, but my fellow volunteers were pretty interesting people. Turns out if you’re going to spend Saturday afternoons cleaning up a child’s library, you’re probably a pretty chill person. They’re also generally all readers which is totally up my alley. The team leader was a surfer. I was working the same section as a lady who worked for a sports publication company. She was a Bruin’s fan, transplanted from Vermont and Boston.

It’s interesting that they divide children from juvenile but I think it’s vitally important. Neil Gaimen had a letter I saw on Reddit that related to getting children to read and he discusses that at every age, you have to keep driving this passion to read, and make voracious readers out of kids. Fiction is an important gateway drug to that.

And transitioning from that child’s section, were one is first introduced to reading independently, to where one reads independently for fun, is extremely important. It’s very similar to young adult fiction, but this “bridge” section is generally made up of fantasy, make believe, lots of series, animals and bright colors. I saw lots of retellings. Disney movies, superheroes, sports, princesses, and animals featured prominently.

We ended up suggesting a couple of series including something about a ninja/princess to a little girl, and the warrior series to a boy who said he liked cats better than dogs (though apparently that author writes a similar series about dog and bears. Way to repost the same shit man. But I guess if the formula works who am I to hate?)

I don’t think I’ll necessarily do this particular event. Maybe if I’m not doing anything for a day, but it didn’t seem to be that useful. The area seemed pretty nice (Clinton Hill.) and the library was well maintained. I’d like to spend my time in more needy areas, even as I know how important libraries are for the communities they serve.