The Harry Potter Alliance

By Pam

August 29, 2011

NBCS- It’s a Library!

My HPA chapter, NYDA, has been involved with building the new Imagine Better Library at the New Beginnings Charter School in Bedford-Stuyvestant, Brooklyn. In May we had sorted the books from Accio Books donations in an empty library space. Now that the library has shelves, it was time for our chapter to get the books up.

Imagine my surprise when I learned that our services were no longer required. Not only were the shelves up, but the books were already on them, including an entire bookshelf containing nothing but Harry Potter. That wasn’t the only thing the principal, Karen, was excited to show me. The art teacher, Miss Oh, had created a beautiful mural that incorporates aspects of the books, as well as inspirational quotes. It even features pages from the books, and a worn-out donated copy of Sorcerer’s Stone (Please note: no books were harmed in the making of this mural).

Karen excitedly showed me around the library. On our last visit, we’d found a lot of books inappropriate for the children. From this, Karen created a parents’ library. What a great way to encourage parents to read with their children! There are even special chairs for the parents to sit and read. Any other truly “out there” books found their home at the local library.

Eventually it was time to get down to work. Although the Latin teacher/librarian Kevin had shelved the books, they still needed a bit of alphabetization. That became our task. We were working on the kindergarten/first grade books. The first thing you learn is that with a lot of authorless children’s books, you have to get creative (Does Kermit the Frog get filed under “K” or “F”?). It was fun to see all the books we had unpacked again, sitting on shelves. It made me particularly happy to see the ones I had donated there. I only had one volunteer to help me, but that was all I needed. We got to revisit some of our childhood favorites as we found them on the shelves, and even read new stories when certain titles caught our eyes.

So much Harry Potter!

We only got part of the alphabetizing done, but were still told that we didn’t have to come back since the librarian could handle the rest of it. The library is done! Last Monday the students had the opportunity to explore it for the very first time.  This is the magical part of Accio Books: when the books come together with the people who will enjoy them. We are very fortunate to be able to see that connection.