(Editor’s note: EDC member Noel Steiner provided an eloquent description of the important role the Escondido Library has played in her family in remarks she made to the May Club meeting. Her comments were so on-point, we felt they were worth including here.)

Noel Steiner

Many of my most treasured memories with my children relate to the library, and I want to share three of those memories with you.

I have a first-grader right now and he is an amazing reader, but he didn’t realize that until about three weeks ago. We were at the library and he checked out a Captain Underpants book, which I’m not a fan of but it keeps him reading. He had actually never read a chapter book before. We came home, he asked if he could watch TV and I said no, so he sat down with this book. I was in the kitchen and a couple of minutes later and he comes running in. “Mom, I just read the first chapter of Captain Underpants — all by myself!” And he stood there with the book open and continued to read aloud to me Chapter Two. He continued to read aloud to me as we left for the grocery store. He read in the car, and he read that book aloud all the way to the grocery store. And all the way home. After we got home he went back into the living room to continue reading, came back into the kitchen while I was making dinner and said “Mom, I’ve just ready my first chapter book — all by myself!” And that’s a treasure for me as a parent.

My second treasured memory is … We do a lot of books on tape because we have a lot of places to drive. So one of the books on tape that we listened to was called “Fireman’s Mom.” And my little toddler was in the back seat — between 18 months and two years — I don’t remember exactly. I will never forget his uncontrollable laughter and giggles every time the author read “Quickly out of bed he scoots, jumps into his pants and boots.”

And one of my other memories that I like to share is listening to the book ‘Tuck Everlasting” with my children in the car, again driving all around Escondido. It was nearing the end of the book and I pulled into the garage and I turned off the car, but we had to hear the ending. So all four of us were sitting on the edge of our seats listening to the ending. And who do you think was bawling — it was me — and all of my kids were around me trying to console me. “Mom it’s OK, it’s just a story, it’s OK.”

The library is one of my few allies in raising literate children in a world full of distractions. X-box, Nintendo DS, Wii, shelves full of too many toys, the computer, and an unending array of TV shows to appeal to children of all ages on all day and all night.

The Library will probably always have funding challenges. Yes, the more funds available for open hours and books the better. More importantly, I believe, is better management of existing resources — that’s really vital.

But the biggest challenge for a library will be to keep kids coming through those doors and getting hooked on reading and hooked on books.

Ultimately, it is the Community that creates the Library.

So, I encourage you to read to a child in your life. Take him or her to the Library. You might be surprised to find who gets the most out of it.