Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center Partners with East Hampton Library for 'Book Time'

As everyone’s favorite animated aardvark Arthur says, “Having fun isn’t hard when you’ve got a library card!”

Last Friday, February 18, around 70 students in four classrooms at the Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center became card-carrying members of the East Hampton Library. A new partnership between the library and the center, called “Book Time,” hopes to foster early literacy, introduce children to the library and instill a love of reading.

“This whole idea was how do we get books in the hands of our parents and our children,” Tim Frazier, executive director of EWECC said. “Especially, we’ve been just going through two years of the pandemic, and a lot of kids are feeling very isolated, a lot of parents are feeling very isolated in this process. We were looking for ways we could get our parents more involved with their children with literacy.”

Children within the program, armed with their very own East Hampton Library card, will borrow a new book from the library every two weeks.

“One of the main reasons for doing this is to tell [the children] that we have a library down the street that is here for you, that we have so many more books for you to choose from,” Alexandra Giambruno, head of children’s services at East Hampton Library, said. “[It’s] a stepping stone to really exploring what this library has to offer and all of the books that we have here.”

Frazier emphasized the center’s focus on early literacy during his time as director. He and the board had been discussing ways to enhance literacy education, and Judith Schneider, a member of the board, was inspired by the idea of the bookmobile. Bookmobiles, which originated in the 19th century, were essentially libraries on wheels, meant to get books in the hands of rural children and parents.

“The bookmobile is a very, very old idea,” Schneider said. “Communities around the world have used some form of mobile means to get books to children, including a camel, horse, boat, elephant, donkey, train and wheelbarrow.”

As the kids are too young to be reading on their own, parents are encouraged to read to them, and establish reading time at night. This not only gets kids excited about reading, but is important family time, and is shown to have many benefits for early development.

For many families at the center, this program is their first introduction to the library.

“The essence of this program is that we are basically bringing East Hampton Library to the children at Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center, and one of the main reasons for this is because a lot of the families, whether it’s at Eleanor Whitmore or otherwise, do not know the library even exists,” Giambruno said.

Books are chosen based on the ages of the children and their expressed interests.

“Some of them are interested in dinosaurs, or llamas, or pigs, and we’re picking books out accordingly,” Giambruno said. “We’re choosing enough books that these books can be circulated amongst four different classrooms for six weeks.”

Giving children a book to take home not only provides them with opportunities to read it, but instills responsibility when they have to bring it back.

Frazier emphasized the importance of reading in giving children ways to express themselves.

“Words are your most powerful tool,” Frazier said. “When you’re exposed to words and how to use them to express yourself and to share [your] thoughts, it gives you a voice.”

For more on EWECC, visit ewecc.org. The East Hampton Library’s website is easthamptonlibrary.org.