JTWest Library

“I like how a book feels when I turn the pages, and how the ink smells—almost like something good to eat.”
― Sharon M. Draper, Fire from the Rock

“The next thing about the air in the library is that no other place smells anything like it. If you close your eyes and try to pick out what it is that you’re sniffing you’re only going to get confused, because all the smells have blended together and turned themselves into a different one. As soon as I got into the library I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I got a whiff of the leather on all the old books, a smell that got real strong if you picked one of them up and stuck your nose real close to it when you turned the pages. Then there was the smell of the cloth that covered the brand-new books, the books that made a splitting sound when you opened them. Then I could sniff the paper, that soft, powdery, drowsy smell that comes off the pages in little puffs when you’re reading something or looking at some pictures, a kind of hypnotizing smell.”
― Christopher Paul Curtis, Bud, Not Buddy

“There will come a time when we will love humanity, when we will gain the courage to fight for an equitable society for our beloved humanity, knowing, intelligently, that when we fight for humanity, we are fighting for ourselves.”
― Jason Reynolds, Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You

“How good is different? I search stories for someone who resembles me. If it weren't for books and Joe, "different" would just be lonely.”
― Nikki Grimes, Garvey's Choice