Heart: Warmed

"He began to sing, 'Good morning to you,' and followed with 'Wheels on the Bus.' The children joined in with a chorus of 'round and round, round and round.'

"Toddlers, fidgeting in their chairs or in their mothers' arms, suddenly became fixated. They could not wait to flip open Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell, a lift-a-flap book, to discover an elephant, a giraffe, a lion and other animals."

"For the past eight years, Colbert Nembhard has turned a homeless shelter's day care room or its dimly lighted office into an intimate library, tapping into the imaginations of transient children with the hope of making reading books a constant in their lives," reports the New York Times.

"New York City has been criticized for failing to prevent homeless children from falling behind in their education and for contributing to missed school days, often because children accompany their parents when they travel from one agency to another seeking assistance.

"Mr. Nembhard's partnership with the homeless shelter began informally, and has served as a model for a citywide initiative to place small libraries at shelters for families. But Nembhard wants children to have a lifelong relationship with libraries, which, he said, offer much more than books, including free wireless modems they can use at home during the school year. In eight years, he has signed up many parents and children for library cards. 'Oh, my God, I can't put a number,' he said. ‘But I would say it’s a lot.'"

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