Saratoga News

Library's birthday party benefits kids and school

By John Pancharian

A child learning to love reading is certainly cause to celebrate. In this spirit, the Alta Vista School Home and School Club is throwing a birthday party for the school library that will resemble a child's birthday, with all the usual fun, including presents.

More than just joy for the kids, the point of the party is to replenish the library's supply of books, many of which are so out of date that they are no longer usable. Thus, those who attend are encouraged to bring a book as a present for the library.

"I wanted it to be fun and not just another fund raiser," said Angie Power, Home and School Club president, who planned the event. She set the time for 2:45 on Friday, March 13th. The activities planned include a D.J., dancing the Macarena, cake and ice cream and other music and dancing.

Power said Home and School Club members are hoping for between 50 and 75 books from the party, which parents could either bring, or else pick from a selection collected by librarian Laura Manthey. Manthey will then place a dedication into donated books, perhaps in the name of the donating family's child. Power explained that part of the difficulty the library faces in purchasing new books is that it can only buy hardbound volumes, which average $15 or $20 each. Likewise, donations for the party must also be hard bound. "They're essential for elementary, because paperbacks tend to disintegrate quickly in little hands," Power said.

Manthey explained that the need for new volumes is especially acute this year due a cut in funding provided to the library by the Home and School Club. According to Power, the Club created its budget over the summer of last year, then discovered from Manthey in October that she had culled a number of books from the shelves and had no funding to replace them. Rather than redraft the budget "again," Power said, she came up with the party.

The party will take place Friday March 13, at 2:45 p.m. in the Alta Vista school cafeteria and the public is welcome to attend and bring their children. When asked the natural question "how old is the library," Powers replied coyly. "I believe it's about 35 years old, the same as the school, but I purposely left the party ageless. I think some of the teachers who've been [at Alta Vista] since the start will be thankful."

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