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COMIC: 'Place Of Peace And Security': Bringing The Library Home During The Pandemic

By Eda Uzunlar
Published April 27, 2021 at 4:00 AM MDT
"I do worry about those kids who are home alone. We hope for the best, but being able to send [a book] home – it's a little world that they can go off and enjoy."

It's been a year since teachers were handed an unprecedented request: Educate students in entirely new ways, amid the backdrop of a global pandemic. In this comic series, we'll illustrate one educator's story each week from now until the end of the school year.

Episode 6

Librarian Emily Curtis and bus driver Edwin Steer of Georgetown, Texas, discuss creating places of "peace and security" by delivering books to students who can't be in school.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

"Usually, my library is really bustling, and there are tons of kids in it. It's been much more quiet. I miss being able to be that place of peace and security." - Emily Curtis, librarian
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"Now, the biggest way kids get their books is by putting them on hold. I have a little wagon, and I go around at the end of every day and deliver them to all of the language arts teachers."
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"I had one kid say it was like Christmas. 'Yes! It's the book I've been waiting for!'"
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"Our first three weeks were completely remote, and we really wanted to make sure kids at home had access to print books.We put them in brown paper bags, and they would get picked up by one of the bus drivers."
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"My supervisor gives me a list of all the students' addresses, and I make my own route. The longest it's taken me is about an hour and a half. I'm really happy to be a part of it." - Edwin Steer, bus driver
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"I know the kids miss being at school, being present with their friends. Getting the books delivered from the library, they feel like they're still involved with the school."
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"One of the things that a library offers is escape and comfort through books, whether it's seeing someone else in your own situation or escaping to a world that's completely different from the one that we're experiencing right now."
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Eda Uzunlar
See stories by Eda Uzunlar