I took my four-year-old son to the International Youth Day celebration at the Cebu City Hall Grounds last Saturday. We were there for an hour and then I ran out of money. There’s a BPI building nearby which houses a museum and a library and which, to my memory, has an ATM machine. So I went there with Nicholas hoping to replenish my empty wallet with a few pesos.
But the machine was unavailable and Nick was curious about what was going on inside the building. There were two women arranging their merchandise of T-shirts, keychains and ref magnets. Nick thought those were toys and pressed me to buy them. I explained to him that they were not. He understood – thank goodness! – and then he saw the stairs and the sign that says “This way to BPI Library.”
I swear this child can read some words because he exclaimed: “Oh look Mom there’s a library on top of the stairs.” I wrote our names on the logbook and there we were, mother and son, climbing up th3 stairs.
This is not my first time in this library.
I hosted an Inquirer Read-along session and a Book Share session with library science students of the University of San Jose Recoletos here a few years back. Sometime in 2015, the BPI Library became a partner of the Basadours in our learning and sharing sessions.
Nicholas was an eager beaver. He was so happy! He was humming a tune!
On the third floor, a glass door welcomes visitors to the BPI Library. My son was clearly giddy! He was smiling from ear to ear and for a moment there, I saw me in him.
The glass door opened to what I am describing in this entry as a “dome” because that afternoon, it felt like a dome. So when you enter the glass door, you’re not in the library itself.
Not yet.
So you open the glass door and you feel like you’re in another world. It was silent and solemn. My mind was playing its own version of a Gregorian chant as Nick examined the space and the ceiling.
It’s a space where visitors (who come by groups) stand and are, perhaps, given reminders and a short history about the building and the library.
For us, it was the entrance to a magical world. Upon entry, my son said (and these were his words): “Oh look at all the books Mom. It’s magic!”
He ran to the right side which says “Welcome to the BPI Library!” and stared at the books displayed there.
Then, we entered the library.
To our left was the librarian who was doing something on her computer. We later learned that her name is Liezl Berdin. (What a coincidence! My mother is a Berdin! My mother’s father hailed from barangay Babag in Lapu-Lapu City. Liezl said she is married to a “Berdin”. I failed to ask for her maiden name though.)
My son ran to the children’s corner. It was of modest size with a modest book collection. But it has a Winnie-the-Pooh story compilation and Nick immediately took it off the bookshelf. He sat on the floor – no bean bags or rubber mats needed – and he “read”. He flipped from one page to the next expressing his surprise and happiness. Many times, the college students seated on the nearby table smiled and waved at us because Nick’s voice boomed in that area.
I asked him to use his soft voice and whisper because we’re in the library. He did for a while until he saw one of his favorite books… The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
The first firstborn recited the entire story infront of the college students while flipping through each page. He knows his Eric Carle.
And then… another book caught his eyes: Where the Wild Things Are, written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak. There’s a Facebook Live video of this one here.
We were there for another 30 minutes as Nicholas checked out every single storybook. Afterwards, I told him it’s time to go out because we need to go home.
Before leaving though, he said, “Mom, let’s have a photo with the librarian.”
That caught me by surprise!
How did my son learn that word?
Librarian!
I might have said it once but I am pretty sure I did not repeat it one million times to him.
His next words left me speechless: “Librarians are book guards Mom. They guard the magic. I love librarians.”
The whole of Sunday and this (Monday) morning, Nicholas asked me to take him back to the library because there are “so many books and it’s fun to read books.”
I told him we have so many books at home but he said, “I finished reading everything.”
His Daddy could only laugh.
I’m glad my children – Nicholas most especially – love books and that he knows that a library has a librarian.
My main concern now is that he’ll ask me to be one of them so I can make magic.
Oh well, another role I want to play when I grow up.
P.S. This is very timely because the PhiloSophia Library Café on Highway Mandaue City is hosting a night for librarians on August 29. This is a commendable move as there are very few events which recognize librarians. I know a couple of great ones including my fellow Basadours Bea Martinez and her sister Keena, Basadours Trustee Lorna Eguia, Ruth Chua of the Cebu City Public Library, Concon Cabarron of the University of San Carlos, author and storyteller Zarah Gagatiga, and my sister/role model Louie Zabala. Allen Oral, who passed away recently, is a librarian with whom I was privileged to work with. This one’s for you too.
