West Covina Library

I’m always thinking of places I can take Benny to distract him and stimulate his senses (other than a shopping mall or a park).

Benny loves to be outdoors but on a particularly, ridiculously hot day, there was no way I was going to expose us to so much heat, so I drove us to the local library instead.

Going to the West Covina Library turned out to be a fantastic idea!

But before going on about why it was such a good trip, here’s a little bit of background on this library:

*The West Covina Library was founded in 1915 and its most recent remodeling was in 1975, which means the building itself is definitely older –looking and the inside of the library has that seventies feel of wood and old books (which I actually happen to like).

*The library offers free Wi-Fi but for those without a laptop or tablet, there are 17 public computers.

*There are adult book collections in foreign languages including Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese .

*There is a microfilm reader/printer to look up city records, archives, and other newspaper and local publication articles.

*But best of all, the entire second floor is dedicated to children!!!

There are shelves upon shelves of children’s books, a homework assistance center, story time kits and most amazing: a family place.

A family place is a center for early childhood information, parent education, socialization and family support. The County of LA created these in certain libraries based on the idea that good health, early learning, parent involvement and supportive communities play a critical role in young children's growth and development.  So of course, Benny and I spent plenty of time at this family place which features a collection of books, toys, videos, music and other materials for babies and toddlers!

 

Benny boy is angry because momma took his toy away

If you have a little baby and find yourself driving down.. oh, say the 10 FWY through the San Gabriel Valley and need to stop for a break right around the West Covina area, this would be a good place to do so.  The library is open Monday through Thursday from 10am -8pm and Saturday from 8am-6pm (good hours, no?).