Bookmobile for tots near launch
By Zenaida Serrano Espanol
Advertiser Staff Writer
A comprehensive early childhood program plans to open a bookmobile for preschoolers by the end of the month to promote literacy and fill a void when the state public library system halts its Bookmobile service in March.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
O'ahu Head Start, which provides services to more than 1,700 economically disadvantaged preschoolers, infants and toddlers, and their families, created the Books for Tots Bookmobile to serve preschool children at about 85 Head Start sites islandwide.
The Books for Tots Bookmobile, geared toward preschoolers, recently stopped at the Makalapa Head Start program.
Organizers of the Bookmobile, which was dedicated on Feb. 7, plan to begin services by Feb. 24 in the Windward area.
"We want to bring literacy and a love for reading into the children's homes and into their lives," said Joni Ekimura, O'ahu Head Start training coordinator.
O'ahu Head Start director Roland Gella came up with the Books for Tots idea more than a year ago when the state library system's Bookmobile began visiting outreach sites less frequently.
Another problem is that several state Department of Education-based Head Start classrooms face being barred from visiting their school libraries because of lead-based paint, Gella said. Head Start is licensed by the state Department of Human Services, whose rules specify that there be no lead paint accessible to children at any childcare facility.
"The (Books for Tots) Bookmobile is important because it's going to meet a need that's not out there right now for many preschoolers," Gella said.
During the planning stages, Ekimura sought ideas from Lynn Masumoto, administrator for the public libraries branch. Masumoto offered information about the public libraries' Bookmobiles, including suggestions on where to purchase books and schedules of stops.
O'ahu Head Start's Books for Tots Bookmobile • To donate books or for more information, call 843-2530.
"Part of the library's efforts is to promote literacy, so anyone's efforts in terms of promoting literacy, we support," Masumoto said.
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Through federal money, O'ahu Head Start has been able to stock its Bookmobile with a staff of two — a driver and a literary specialist who will also serve as a storyteller — and about 400 books.
Elwin Ahu, executive pastor at New Hope Christian Fellowship, hopes his congregation will add more reading material to the Bookmobile collection through church donation drives on March 8 and 9.
"I think it's a fantastic idea," Ahu said. "Just to see (the children's) cute, innocent faces and knowing that you're helping them, as they say, 'get a head start in life,' just blesses our souls."
John Park, the agency's facilities, maintenance and warehouse supervisor, was in charge of transforming the 22-passenger mini-school bus into a traveling library.
"I went to Pearl City Public Library to find out how they set up their Bookmobile," Park said.
The O'ahu Head Start Bookmobile — 17 feet long and nearly 10,000 pounds — is smaller than the Pearl City-based one, which is about 27 feet long and 25,500 pounds with a capacity for about 2,000 books.
Park fitted the new Bookmobile with custom-built, maple wood bookcases, which are angled, "so when the bus turns, the books won't fall off," he said.
The keiki-friendly sanctuary is complete with puppets such as Kermit the Frog and Hello Kitty sitting alongside books or hanging above windows, and soft, wool carpeting with a "very busy" maile and 'ilima lei print in blue, lavender, green, yellow and orange, Park said.
The mobile will probably be open 9 to 11 a.m. three days a week, Ekimura said. After serving children on the Windward side through June, the Bookmobile will make its way through Honolulu sites during the summer. Officials plan to eventually extend the mobile's service to private preschools as well.
Reach Zenaida Serrano Espanol at zespanol@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8174.
