Books for Haiti

Librarian Linda Straube posted this recently to the New Trier Library blog. One of our librarians, Deborah Lazar is working on assistance to victims of the Haiti disaster and also on aid to the library. She will be sending books translated into French by New Trier language students.

Three French teachers, Monsieur Greaux, Madame Salisbury and Mademoiselle Weiss, recently offered their students an opportunity to truly make a difference for others. The students each translated a child’s picture book from English to French and then added the French words to each page so that the books could be sent to French speaking Haiti and shared with victims of last year’s earthquake. Here’s a brief version of the story in pictures with images from some of the books:

Books for Haiti

Librarian Linda Straube pulled together some scanned images, pictures and text to describe this fabulous project by our students and Foreign Language teachers. Our library is very excited that we could support of such a fantastic project. Thanks to everyone who helped!

Our students loved this project, especially the childhood memories it raised for them and the chance to help others. L. Straube writes about her favorite quote:

"Dear children of Haiti, I hope this book gives you joy during a difficult time for your country.... If you are ever sad, you must remember that there is hope everywhere, but it is in hiding and you must find it." 

We have already started conversations about how other language classes (Spanish and Chinese) might pursue a similar project, perhaps donating books to Central America or to a local charity in one of Chicago’s neighborhoods. If you would like to learn more, please contact New Trier Librarians.