Libraries are a wonderful thing. A place to get books, videos, DVDs, CDs, magazines. A place to check e-mail or surf the Net. A place to take the kids just because you feel like leaving the house. A place where there are storytimes and special programs for kids. And all for free. My kids are currently participating in Montgomery County’s summer reading program. We attended the program launch during community day at the Davis branch where they had a pirate (with tattoos), a clown (with balloons) as well as the mascot and team members from Bethesda Big Train (with free tickets). Weeks later, when the kids took their reading lists in to receive their first prize, they had difficulty choosing the best thing from the treasure chest. A paddle ball? A googly-eyed stretchy ball? Or maybe tattoos?
We frequent a number of different branches in the system. We often go to Wheaton Regional, partly because it’s a larger library and also because it has a very large Friends of the Library used bookstore. Great as it is to check out books for free, sometimes you want to buy some too. And although every branch has a children’s section, there is also a children’s library. On a recent trip to the Kensington Park branch, the kids got to pet chickens during a program about the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair. Note: the chickens were actually outside.
