Children Find What They Need in Library Spaces

KCParent Magazine published this article in its May 2026 issue.

The library can be whatever a patron needs it to be. Whether retreating inward or escaping, the Library offers a way.

At the Westport Branch, Library Assistant Hannah Hyde says she learned this as a child, and her work has afforded her the privilege of seeing others realize it, too. For her, that lightbulb went off when her mother shooed her out of the house on summer days and Hyde retreated into a tree with a book. 

“It’s like wherever you go, you can have the library with you,” she says.

Elliette Long, a fifth grader in Havertown, Pennsylvania, has spent much of the past two years battling leukemia and, as Hyde did, uses stories as an escape, albeit in a much different way. 

Lacey Long, Elliette’s mother, says that books pulled her daughter out of the hospital and into the halls of Hogwarts, the streets of Victorian England alongside detective Enola Holmes, and the candlelit halls of Jane Austen’s Regency period. 

And Elliette didn’t limit herself to fictional landscapes. She used her imagination — and a class project about famous architecture — to transport her all the way to the Kansas City Public Library. Specifically, to the iconic parking garage at the Central location.

Lacey explains that Elliette, who’s never visited Kansas City, used photos she found online to reimagine the design of the 42-title Community Bookshelf, adding more female authors. 

And then, Hyde says, there’s Freya Illies, who is drawn to libraries on a different kind of quest — and very much uses her visits as a way in rather than a way out, as Elliette often has.

Freya’s family moved to Leavenworth, Kansas, from Colorado in the summer of 2025. She’s not yet 3 years old and has already been to 239 libraries in 10 states, including nine of the 10 Kansas City Public Library locations.

Hyde chatted with them at the Westport Branch in January and says she felt humbled watching the little girl “putting the book back where the book goes and just feeling like she could explore the room. And her mom trusted her to do that. That sort of independence just seems uncommon in a world where people cannot even read and follow instructions.”

Freya’s mom, Hannah Illies, sees libraries as the cornerstones of communities, offering much more than books.

“We love the community of learners and exploring new areas and meeting new people,” she says. “My hope is that when Freya is older, she will help plan out the trips and visits and have her own takeaways to reflect on.”

As a librarian, Hyde says she loves seeing parents fully engaged with their children in non-digital spaces.

“The whole point of parenting is making children good future humans. You want them to be curious and self-sustaining and independent,” Hyde says. 

And libraries are a perfect place to start the lifelong process of becoming.

For a complete list of activities for children — and adults — visit KCLibrary.org/calendar.