Callahan library in midst of a rebirth

LYNN – Jai?el Brooks knows where to find her favorite books in the Callahan School library, and she is quick to say why she likes them.?They have a lot of adventures,” said the second-grader.Brooks is one of 440 Callahan students who have access to more than 1,000 books in a library undergoing a reorganization and sprucing up thanks to parent volunteers, including Dawn Maguire and Kelley Godfrey.Maguire, mother of two Callahan students, spent Thursday with a scraper, sponge and bucket of water removing old wallpaper from the library wall. She pitched in to improve the library because, she said, Principal Brian Fay and former Principal Edward Turmenne made parents welcome in the school.?It?s an open-door policy, and I want our library to be a place where kids are comfortable,” Maguire said.Godfrey has volunteered in the library for a year and helped sort through decades worth of books, setting aside outdated volumes to make room for new, donated books. She worked with one of her in-laws, Dorothy Wright-Irwin, to pack 4,800 older books into 60 boxes and send them last December to Ghana.Godfrey said Irwin visited a school in the West African nation and learned the building?s brand-new library had bare shelves.?She promised she would do everything in her power to fill them,” Godfrey said.The books should reach the school by April, Godfrey added.Fay said Callahan?s literary team made up of parents and teachers sparked the library rebirth, with team members setting a goal to acquire to new books for the library.?We?re never short of literature in the school,” he said.Maguire said the library is a place where students learn to cherish and take care of books and develop strong research skills.?It?s too easy to look up things on the Internet,” she said.Godfrey said a donation from local organization Centerboard helped buy new books for the library, including popular children?s fiction series like “Goosebumps” and “The Lightning Thief.” She said the collections spurred an interest in Greek mythology among Callahan readers.The library is divided into reading and research sections, and parents, student, school teachers and administrators are hosting a library reopening celebration on March 3.?I?m hoping this is a happy place that makes kids want to read more,” Godfrey said.