Letters March 8, 2010 Issue

LETTERS

with contributions from KAREN JAMES, WILLIAM STEELE, SHERYL ARMSTRONG, CHRIS LOWENBERG

Thanks to Jeremy Carper for his "call to arms" to embrace all children ["Let's pray for at-risk children," January 11]. It brought to mind my own experience as a storyteller for Brooklyn Public Library in its LSCA (Library Service and Construction Act) program in the ghettos.

A team of well-educated professionals brought the very best children's books to Youth in Action, Head Start, and church day-care centers, providing story hour for three-, four-, and five-year-olds. I saw much that was unfamiliar, very sad, and sometimes shocking. It expanded my own horizons.

The children and staff loved us, the stories, and the books, and it was mutual. I know that every child I embraced while reading his or her favorite storybook felt loved and valued. My neighbors were concerned about my going into those neighborhoods alone, but I never had one bad experience. And this was in the mid '60s, a time of volatile social and political unrest.

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