FOR THE KIDS: Kenosha ready to unveil its first-ever children’s library

KENOSHA, Wis. — Learning while having fun is a priority at Kenosha’s first-ever children’s library.

“That sounds like a whole different world,” said 10-year-old Isaiah Nye of Kenosha.

Nye is one of many area youngsters excited about the new Uptown Children’s Library. The grand opening is July 13.

It’s for kids 11 and under.

“This is going to give them a nice safe place where they don’t have to worry about being library quiet,” said Joe Zimmer, Early Literacy Specialist at the Uptown Children’s Library.

“We can have fun. We can get excited. And that’s going to really help strengthen those literary skills for them.”

The library was built on the site of burned-down buildings from the 2020 civil unrest in Kenosha.

“This neighborhood faced a lot of turmoil,” said Kahlil Griffin, manager of the Uptown Children’s Library.

“A lot of buildings were burned down. It’s a lot of civil unrest. So this library here will help rejuvenate the community, bring some excitement to the community and just bring more people together.”

The 7,600-square-foot library is on the ground level of the new Uptown Lofts Apartments. It includes a variety of rooms and activities in addition to hundreds of children’s books.

Joel Kaufmann is the principal at the nearby Brass Community School. He already has field trips planned for his students.

“Some will want to just curl up with a book,” Kaufmann said. “But others will be excited to dig into the iPads and the different STEM activities and some of the other things that are ready to go.”

Nye said he’s looking forward to checking out all of the fun activities. He’s most excited about finding a new book.

“My parents actually call me the super reader,” Nye said.