If I had wings...

A couple of years ago, I attended my oldest grandchild's "graduation ceremony" from preschool. At that event, there was a wonderful video presentation of each student in his class stating "what I want to be when I grow up." Out of a huge class (this preschool had well over 50 students), not one child wanted to be a librarian. There was the usual list of police officers, teachers, moms/dads, a cowboy, and even a "paleontologist" (spoken and defined correctly by one student whose uncle is a paleontologist). But no librarians. I left that ceremony wondering what is wrong with my career. Have we not promoted ourselves enough to young children? Have they not been exposed to us? Have they been exposed to us but not liked us well enough to imitate us? Have they been exposed to us but not realized what we're called?

Today I visited a preschool for one of the early childhood literacy presentations I regularly give. In the school's hallway was a bulletin board with the title, "If I had wings, I'd fly to...." Preschoolers' comments were listed. I scanned the list as I passed it. I'd fly to the playground. I'd fly to the candy store. I'd fly to the toy store. I'd fly to my grandma's house.

And then...at the very bottom of the list was this comment: If I had wings, I'd fly... "to the library." A preschooler named Yaire said she would fly to the library. YES! This child knows the joys of being at a library! And hopefully, she knows the joy of having a librarian in her life. I am making it a point now to begin all of my preschool programs (or any presentation) with, "Hello, my name is Maryann, and I'm from the library. I'm a librarian!" Maybe Yaire or her other classmates will not only want to fly to the library, but maybe they'll want to be the pilot.