Renovated Library Gets Hearty Welcome

Some second-graders walked briskly. Others hopped or skipped.

Whatever their mode, though, the whole class sang the same impromptu song composed for the occasion by teacher Sue Michiels: “Vamos a la biblioteca!”

The class became the first at Bassett Street School to set foot Thursday in the renovated library/media center. Their banner depicting children reading their favorite books won a library-themed decorating contest and got them in the door first. The new space will open to the whole school Monday.

The library has been closed for almost two years for the $60,000 remodeling. Administrators found funds in the school’s existing budget and raised additional money through a candy sale and other projects. It now has 8,000 volumes, with more on the way to satisfy the demands of the school’s 1,250 students, 87% of whom are Latino.

A pair of computers hum in one corner. In another, a floor-to-ceiling mural depicts famous characters from children’s literature.

“We wanted it to be kid-friendly,” said Bill Bertrand, a coordinator at the school who played a central role in the library’s new look. “We want them to feel at home. This will be a place they can come in by themselves, with classmates or even with their families.”

When the second-graders entered the library, they let out a gasp before making their way past bunches of balloons and streamers to take a look at the books. Principal Jan Pickett then read to them before everyone adjourned to the courtyard for cake and punch.

“Some of these children had never been in a library before, so it’s a special day,” Pickett said.

As she read a story about a caterpillar that turns into a butterfly, “They looked up at the mural and saw a butterfly and said, ‘There he is! There he is!’ ”