The Paterson Public Library Summary

To the girl, the library seems to be a temple sitting amid the ruins of her city. The imposing structure with its classic architecture seems as out of place in the middle of the dying neighborhoods as she does in the classrooms where most of the other children hated her because she is Puerto Rican and smart. One girl in particular, Lorraine, threatens to beat her up every day, and her walks to the library on Saturday mornings become exercises in risk and fear as well as educational enlightenment.

The girl's need for the stories within the library walls overpower her fear of Lorraine, however, and she leaves with her two books to get her through the next week. Even now, long past the days of Lorraine, the woman still gets a rush from entering a library...