Did you know that the OWHL collection contains hundreds of books for young children—from babies to the elementary grades? Because of our commitment to serve the entire Academy community, we have established a children’s book collection at the OWHL, containing many of the best classic and contemporary illustrated storybooks for infants and young children.
An Abbot Association grant a decade ago allowed us to purchase the complete set of Newbery Medal Winners and Caldecott Award books, and we have kept that collection current. In addition, we actively add titles as excellent new materials become available. The collection is located in a sunny corner near the library entrance. Materials are “color-coded” to denote reading level (purple for baby books, orange for early readers, and blue for middle readers) making for easy browsing. All of the materials are in the OWHL online catalog, so you can easily find out if we own your family’s favorites, and stop by to read together.
A special subset of our children’s collection, the Baby Book Collection, is a set of picture books dedicated to specific young members of the PA community. Whenever we become aware that a faculty or staff member has given birth or adopted a baby, we buy a new book and add a special bookplate providing the child’s name and date of birth. The new family receives a letter inviting them to come in to read with their baby, and especially to visit their child’s designated book. It is our intention to honor every new baby that enters our community, but we know that we miss some. Please let me know via email (etully@ andover.edu) if you are aware of a young child in our community who should be on this list. The books and their designees are listed on our web site.
