By María José Carrillo, Metropolitan Libraries Network, Quito, Ecuador
My name is María José Carrillo, I work in the Metropolitan Network of Libraries of the Municipality of the Metropolitan District of Quito (RMB). Although my area of work is administrative, I have been able to collaborate on some occasions in mediation events through the Network. I have had the opportunity to see how literature and books work magic on people; how they bring families together; how they make children and adults happy.
During this period of the pandemic, the RMB librarian colleagues have done a great job so that children and adolescents from different parts of the country can get closer to reading and discover new worlds through the books they read every week together with the librarians. The picturebook has been the tool they have used to get closer to readers.
I consider that reading mediation has become a space of fun, freedom and imagination; a safe place for the children who are part of our program and who for almost two years have lived through one of the hardest and most stressful moments of their lives due to the pandemic.
