Creating a more comfortable library

The children’s room in Peninsula Public Library (PPL) recently received a few new items makeover and is going for a cozier look. The library’s aim is to inspire a love of books in young readers. With the newly decorated room and weekly themed activities organized for the children, Acting Director Carolynn Matulewicz said: “The kids keep wanting to come back. We’ve achieved our goal.”
To create the ultimate snuggle-with-a-book feeling, plush furniture in vibrant reds and yellows were purchased. Small, round tables now cluster nearby like colorful lily pads, and new chairs circle the children’s iPad station. Updated early-literacy computers replaced old ones. They have touch screens and color-coordinated keyboards, and are specifically designed for preschoolers, only running educational programs.
All of this was done through the “Get Cozy at your Library” New York State Education Department legislative grant of $5,000 that was initiated under former Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg (D-Long Beach) and obtained after Assemblyman Todd Kaminsky (D-Long Beach) took office in January.
“We found that children were reading right on the floor in the isles,” Matulewicz said, “... and the grant really helped us spruce up the room.”
Other personal touches were added, including a rocking chair, play-dice, and a combination of store-bought and handmade superhero decorations that go with the library’s current summer-reading theme “Every Hero has a Story.”

“They are cute for the library and comfortable for kids to sit on,” said Abby Melman, 11, about the play-dice and chairs. The Cedarhurst resident said she comes to the library often. “I like reading books,” said the sixth-grader to be at Lawrence Middle School at the Broadway Campus, who wants to “read at a higher level.”

Everybody’s a super reader
At the July 8 themed activity in the downstairs activity room, children used paints and stencils to decorate their own “Super Reader” capes, cut-out from old T-shirts. The arts & crafts activity was one of several this summer that is part of PPL’s reading program “Every Hero Has A Story” to encourage reading. On July 15, real-life “heroes,” a local police officer and a firefighter spoke to the children, while they make badges and superhero cuffs. Event organizer Ilene Madden, said the library “... wants to nurture the love of libraries at a young age so that they keep coming back. We want to bring in children age four and up who one day are going to be teenagers, then adults and hopefully library patrons.”
The PPL’s attention to child readers seems to be accomplishing just that. “I like coming to the library because I get to read books,” said Yonah Jinjihashvili, 8, of Woodmere. Jayla Perez, 5, just finished kindergarten at the Number Four School and said she already she enjoys reading and writing.
Lawrence High School senior-to-be Jasmine Verma, appears to be just the kind of teenager Madden is envisioning. “I love being with children and seeing them get creative,” said Verma, a summer library volunteer helping to oversee the activities.
Renee McGrath, manager of youth services for the 54 libraries in the Nassau Library System visited PPL on July 8. “It’s nice to see the things that these libraries are doing,” she said, as she watched the kids create their super reader T-shirts.