a Literary FAMILY
AFFAIR
by Jean Eisenmann | photos courtesy of Diana Brodeur
F
ort Worth’s Droege family are readers. Avid readers. And when February’s winter storm kept most folks huddled indoors, the four Droege kids were outside building – not a snowman, but a winter reading fort! For most of the day, they hauled snow in 5-gallon buckets, building the structure to resemble a fort. Large enough to fit two or three kids at a time, they stuffed the fort with pillows for comfortable seating and, of course, books. The siblings and their neighborhood friends enjoyed the masterpiece for two days. Before its demise, the sign in front of the fort read, “Winter Reading Fort: A Seasonal Extension of the Summer Garage Library.” What’s the story behind the sign? In the summer of 2019, then 10-year-old Penelope Droege was looking for a summer job. She always had wanted to be known as the girl with the most books, and over time had acquired quite a collection to feed her passion. With that in mind, Penelope and her mom, Diana came up with the idea of sharing her
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pictured above is Honorary Fort Worth Librarian - Penelope
Near summer’s end that year, the library was mentioned on a local TV news program affiliated with NBC5. The Kelly Clarkson Show was about to launch, and the show’s staff heard about this unusual family project. Turns out, the Droeges were flown to California and appeared on the show. Talk about a summer project turned success story. The family reopened the Summer Garage Library in June 2020, this time bigger and better. Social media spread word of the library, an app tracked books, and they redesigned the library card. The pandemic required the Droeges to take COVID-19 precautions such as canceling guest readers, limiting the number of guests, and quarantining books a couple of days before reissuing. Between 300 and 400 books were checked out each month, and by the end of summer, the library housed 1,600 books. The highlight of the summer came when the director of the Fort Worth Public Library presented Penelope with a plaque for being an “Honorary Fort Worth Librarian.”
“Once the library closed, I lent the books books with others by running a library to teachers at Granger to use for the out of their garage. Brian, Penelope’s school, rather than leaving them dad and a 4th-grade teacher in boxes all year,” Brian said. at Kay Granger Elementary, The family’s busy planning “THE LIBRARY said, “The library started for the garage library’s STARTED WITH BOOKS with books from my third season. “We buy FROM MY CLASSROOM classroom library and from some new books every LIBRARY AND the family’s collection.” year,” Brian explained. FROM THE FAMILY’S Her brothers, Clark (10), “This time, we’re COLLECTION.” Dax (8), and Edmund (13), concentrating on books have played a part in the that illustrate diversity.” family business since that first year. Additional books were donated for an even greater selection. Christened the “Summer Garage Library,” their business was in full force as they opened their (garage) doors three to four times a week during set hours. Guest readers – Brian’s colleagues from Granger –volunteered their time reading in the driveway to as many as 30 kids in one sitting. Penelope took on the role of head librarian, and together the family designed a logo and pictured above is The Droege Family an official Droege library card. APRIL 2021 | 35 WEST | 23
