Thanks to the financial support of the Library Foundation of Hillsboro, the local Ukrainian community has begun to enjoy a new Storytime with a brand new Ukrainian-language book collection at the Brookwood branch of the Hillsboro Public Library. This was the first of an ongoing program that will be held the 3rd Wednesday of each month at 7pm at the Brookwood Library.
At this opening evening, there were over 20 attendees, including a family that came from Washington, and who plan on returning and inviting more people to the next event! According to native Ukrainian storyteller, Nataliia Makohon, many of the people who attended became emotional hearing their own language. And speaking it as well – Makohon handed books to adults in the group and encouraged them to read in Ukrainian to the young.
“The children were spellbound,” observed Library Foundation president Debbie Clarke.
Nataliia Makohon said that the group was very pleased with the library’s thoughtful selection of the books. The writers and stories available were culturally and linguistically true to Ukraine’s past and present. She also noted that library staff were generous, helping new families sign up for library cards to check out some of these new books with just 10 minutes until the library closed.
The new Ukrainian collection, of 100 books, includes:
- Books by native Ukrainian children’s authors
- Fairy tales and traditional folk tales
- Award-winning children’s titles
- Popular U.S. English titles translated into Ukrainian
- Titles recommended by our local Ukrainian community
“We are sincerely thankful to the Library Foundation of Hillsboro for this program for our community. It is strong educational support for our kids and a DEI approach to the Foundation projects,” Makohon expressed.
Donations to our Foundation helps fund wonderful programs like this!
