Welcome to the Children’s Room!
We provide materials, programs, services, and other resources to families, caregivers, and teachers! Children 9 years old and under must be accompanied by a parent, guardian, or caregiver over the age of 13, at all times and must remain on the same floor as their parent, guardian, or caregiver. See our full Safe Child Policy to learn more. Check out upcoming events and programs on the events calendar!
Library Cards
All Andover residents, property owners, Town of Andover municipal employees, and Andover public school teachers and students are eligible to get a Memorial Hall Library card. There is no minimum age requirement for library cards – kids in grade 5 and under can get a Memorial Hall Library card with a parent/guardian present. Learn more about library cards and borrowing items!
Book Bundles & Booklists
Fill out our book bundle request form to get a selection of books based on your submitted interests! Children’s Room staff will put together a bundle of ten books for each order requested, then we’ll send an email when they’re ready for pick-up. Please be aware that book bundles will not be ready immediately after submitting the form, and may take between 1-3 days, depending on when the form was submitted.
If you’re looking for reading suggestions, you can take a look at some of our booklists online!
Collection & Materials
The Children’s Room has a Parenting collection in the same area as Graphic Novels! This collection includes books about early literacy, child development, tough topics, and more.
We also have a Decodable Collection to help growing readers practice phonics skills! Decodables are written with the science of reading in mind, so they contain a majority of words that follow the rules of phonics and include skills children will encounter while learning to read, like short vowels, digraphs, long vowels, and more. Our collection is organized by these categories to make it easy to target specific skills!
Teacher Material Request
If you are planning a unit on a particular topic and would like to borrow a selection of library books to use in your classroom, the Children’s Room is happy to help! To request books to use in your classroom, email our circulation desk at crcirc@mhl.org and let us know the following information:
- Grade level(s) you teach
- Topic(s) you’re covering in a unit
- Preferred book format (picture books, non-fiction, graphic novels, etc.)
- Number of books you’d like
- Library card number
Children’s Room staff will select books based on your submission and send you an email once they’re ready for pick-up! Please be aware that books will not be ready immediately after submitting your request, and may take between 1-3 days, depending on when the form was submitted.
Beth, Coordinator of Children’s Services (she/her)
Beth has been working in libraries for a long time, but only 27 years at MHL! She likes to read historical fiction, books about parenting, and biographies. Beth likes to garden, listen to music and binge watch crime shows with her husband. She has two rescue cats and two rescue dogs!
Heather, Library Assistant II (she/her)
Heather has worked in libraries for over 10 years. She likes to read in all formats, and particularly likes the mystery and biography genres.
Heather grows tropical houseplants, and one of her plants is both green and purple, which are her two favorite colors. Heather loves watching the Boston Fleet (the women’s professional hockey team) and crafting gifts and decorations!
Laura, Children’s Librarian (she/her)
Laura grew up in Andover and has been coming to MHL since she was a little kid! She enjoys reading memoirs and novels set in foreign countries as well as bedtime stories to her kids. Controversially, she prefers to read on her Kindle. In her free time, she enjoys art, theater and hanging out with her family. Her favorite ice cream flavor is Moose Tracks.
Olly, Children’s Librarian (they/them)
Olly has been working in libraries for several years. They like reading fantasy books and graphic novels about magic and dragons, and nonfiction books that can teach them something new! Olly likes to play video games, hang out with their cat, and talk about Dungeons & Dragons!