Read Your Heart Out

According to Patricia Ryan, the children’s librarian at the Union City Library, anytime is a good time to get your kids interested in reading.

She offers many simple tips to encourage your child to pick up a book.

“Read to your children, talk to your children and don’t make it [reading] a chore,” she said. “Kids thrive on repetition and learn well that way.”

Ryan believes reluctant readers love non-fiction and she is a subscriber to the belief of letting them read what interests them.

Ryan says board books are the best way to start introducing babies to reading.

There is a wide range of board books currently available in the children’s section. 

The Union City Library offers many programs to help encourage and excite children of any age.

The library offers weekly toddler and preschool story times, which are free and require no sign-ups ahead of time.  

“We have toddlers sitting on their parents lap during our relaxed story times,” Ryan commented. “It is a family event.”

Community experts lead weekly workshops at the library. Each week there is a different theme for the workshop being featured.

The craft times, like the recent this past Friday, are also “very popular” according to Ryan.

She encourages visitors to check out some of the many classes offered each month at the library as well.

About a year and a half ago, the Union City Library was the recipient of a $50,000 grant provided by the California State Library and the Family Place Library Program.

The grant paid for most of the furniture now found in the children’s section of the Union City Library. The goal was to have ample comfortable seating and plenty of books readily available for all ages of children.

The Family Place Library Program started in the 1990s on the East Coast. The goal of the Family Place is to help give libraries across the country the tools to grow to their full potential and to serve their communities by encouraging families to learn and develop.

Ryan said children under age 14 are eligilble for a library card with their parents signature and teens over age 14 simply need a picture identification and proof of address in order to obtain a card.

"You are the one who is going to turn you kids on to reading," Ryan said. "Encourage being in the library and make reading a daily part of life."