By Kelly Rush
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

GRAND ARMY PLAZA -- Children’s books and the stories contained within their brightly illustrated pages are more than a tool to teach kids how to read. They bring the concepts of love, kindness and tolerance to life, said Connie Peterson, who was attending the Brooklyn Public Library’s 13th Annual Gala: “The Magic of Childhood,� on Thursday night at the Central Library.

Peterson works for the Jim Henson Company, which produces Sesame Street, a show that is seen around the globe and is in its 40th season. Framed covers of Sesame Street books were in a special display case in the children’s area of the library, near an installation of muppets along the wall.

“We’re teaching tolerance in really troubled areas,� she said, and teaching such lessons is what libraries are all about.

The gala brought more than 400 people together for an evening of food, dancing and fundraising for the Brooklyn library’s myriad children’s programs.

Anthony Crowell, chairman of the BPL Board of Trustees, said the event already had raised its goal of $300,000 through ticket sales and sponsorships and he hoped to raise even more through a silent and live auction that night.

Proceeds will be used to buy children’s books and materials and benefit programs such as the Kidsmobile, a children’s library on wheels; the Child’s Place for Children with Special Needs; and early literacy initiatives First Five Years and Para Los Niños, among other programs.

Crowell said he wants to make sure the children’s collection is up to date with the “latest and greatest,� that there are no long waiting lines to check out books and that none of the programs serving children are threatened because of a lack of funds.

The library is Brooklyn’s largest not-for-profit, and is a system independent of the New York City and Queens libraries with more than 60 branches.

“People don’t understand the scale and magnitude of what we do,� Crowell said. But the size of the crowd Thursday is a testament that they care, he said. “When other not-for-profits worry about budgets, we’re sold out. People support us in the most difficult of times.�

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who attended the event, said he “can’t imagine a better investment in this city’s future.�

His favorite book growing up was Johnny Tremain, about a young boy apprenticed to a master silversmith in Boston around the time of the Revolutionary War. “That book brought history alive for me. I know what libraries can do,� he said.

Andrew Salkin, a Brooklyn resident and father of two boys ages 4 and 2, said he loves to see the excitement in his children’s eyes when they get home from the library and spread their books around them, trying to figure out which to read first.

He remembers falling in love with Caps for Sale.

“You always remember what books you loved as a child,� he said.

Salkin is forming a group to get parents involved in supporting the library. He wants to bring the community together.

“We’re just starting the group, so I’m not sure what comes next, but I want to make people see the benefit of their efforts,� he said. “We want to start building a foundation where people view [their] local library branch as a resource.�

With about 2.5 million residents in Brooklyn, he shouldn’t have trouble finding interested parents who want to make a difference, he said.

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