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The Book Fair Returns to the Library

With all of the excitement for the new Inspiration Commons (we already have three schools coming to see it this fall), there was something so fulfilling in seeing our book fair set up in the new collaborative hub space. Our BPC volunteers each year find new twists and titles to make the experience so special. I say all of this as someone with three daughters in the Lower School. Within 24 hours of the first day, my girls had each filled out multi page lists of all the books they wanted. For my oldest - fantasy and science fiction, middle child focused on all things animals, and youngest just so proud to have a beginner chapter book (with pictures) so she might be like her older sisters, even though I know she can’t really read yet.

My girls do love to read, and I thank the Berwick Lower School teachers, staff, and librarians for this reality. In fact, I really don’t thank them enough. Frequently my girls force us to shut off their lights multiple times in order to stop reading the particular chapter that has gripped them on a given night. I continue to believe that amidst all the distractions of screens and gaming, this passionate love of reading will be the most important skill they learn for the future. Whatever form it takes, they will need to engage with and comprehend language in all that they do. For my older two girls, it has already become intrinsic in nature: they read to calm themselves down and to assuage that insatiable innate curiosity of young people.


I am struck that we, as Berwick parents, should not take this for granted – this love of reading. I am sure that it grips some kids more than others in our community, and I am also sure my daughters will be demanding cell phones and X-boxes before too long. But we really are lucky. We are lucky that Berwick has so many great books and so many thoughtful adults who can connect individual students to individual stories. Today I walked through the library three or four times, and each time I saw Lower School students pouring over titles and trying to make hard decisions. I had a pretty full day, so I was unable to travel to the book fair with my kids. My role was relegated to arriving with the credit card later in the afternoon. I paid for my stack and tucked the nine volumes under my arm and headed for the door when I crossed paths with another Berwick parent. I commented on the tradition of the book fair and how I had been ordered to come home with a full load. He smirked and said, “There are far worse investments we could be making,” I could not agree more.

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