Idina Menzel, John Lithgow, R.L. Stine, Becky Albertalli and more celebrity authors and writers spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the role libraries have played in their lives and why children should always have access to the books that line their shelves.

By Lexy Perez, Abbey White, April 8, 2022 9:30am

Libraries and the connection they offer through their vast print and multimedia collections, technological services, and programming and classes exist far outside the bounds of National Library Week.

But the American Library Association’s 2022 event, taking place April 3-9, is a particularly timely celebration of these spaces as centers of culture, community, information and imagination — especially for children.

For actor John Lithgow, who has written numerous children’s titles, libraries have remained important places to him as a person and an author. “I really love old libraries,” he told The Hollywood Reporter ahead of the 2022 weeklong event.

“They just draw you in and you go into another era, another space.”

All the Bright Places author Jennifer Niven also told THR that for her, libraries were a gateway to the world — and beyond. “In libraries, I discovered that the world was possible,” she told THR. “Books were doors to magic worlds.”

Source: Idina Menzel, John Lithgow Talk Kids Books for National Library Week – The Hollywood Reporter