Essays

• BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF
• Apr 16, 2025

We get a lot of letters to the editor about libraries these days: From the far right, they argue that anything that even alludes to sex is “pornographic.” From the far left, they pretend that we are turning our backs on the First Amendment and all that is good about America at the suggestion that some reading material simply doesn’t belong in children’s libraries. 

We too rarely hear from those people who recognize that there’s a huge gulf between pornography and material that is merely age-inappropriate but realize that there really is such a thing as age-inappropriate, and that our rights as Americans will not tumble when we decide someone other than the librarian might have some insight into what that is.

That isn’t precisely where our February Golden Pen winner landed, but it moves us in that direction by reminding people about the fundamental goodness of libraries — which even with all the controversy remain one of the jewels of American society. 

In her letter, “Raising readers,” Jocelyn Chabot acknowledged the concern over which books we can read and where they will be made available. But she “felt hope blossom” during a recent visit to a local library. 

She described the full library parking lot and the steady stream of people — most of them under 3 years old — entering the library, and how the scene stirred memories. 

“I realized, it’s Thursday, the day for Toddler Storytime,” she wrote. “The morning was cold, the children bundled in hooded jackets and colorful knitted hats. One little girl wore pink rubber boots and clopped happily across the linoleum like a frisky Clydesdale. Mothers pushed strollers and folks in my age bracket, clearly grandparents, held the hands of tiny, pig-tailed, rosy-cheeked cherubs. All were delighted to be surrounded by stories.”

She wrote of the anticipation as “preschoolers fidgeted, dashed through clumps of parents, and one by one, began to cry. The cacophony of wails and the shushing of parents filled the normally quiet space and I had to laugh.

“Thirty-five years ago, I was one of those mothers, stripping jackets from my sweaty toddlers, sitting ‘crisscross applesauce’ on an alphabet rug, awaiting magical tales of friendly dragons or naughty rabbits, or bears who refused to go to sleep.

“Relief washed over me as I realized that people do still love books. And they are raising readers, spreading the joy of words from one generation to the next.”

The Golden Pen is awarded monthly. Winners also are invited to an annual luncheon with the newspaper’s editorial staff.