America’s favorite young bibliophile spent a day at the Library of Congress shadowing Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress.

Daliyah Marie Arana is four years old, is from Gainesville, Georgia and has read more than 1,000 books in the last year. A particular fan of Mo Willems’ Pigeon and Elephant and Piggie series, Arana also enjoys books about dinosaurs, research for her planned future as a paleontologist.

Arana achieved notoriety for her delivery of the William L. Phelps speech “The Pleasure of Books,” posted to YouTube by her mother. The speech, in which Phelps — and Arana — eloquently elocute on the benefits of literature, is written at a college level. Although Arana’s parents have never had her reading level tested, she has no trouble with the books her middle school-aged siblings read, or with those college students study.

Arana’s mother, Haleema Arana, began reading to her daughter before she was born. Her brother would read his chapter books aloud to her in her crib. At a year and a half, Arana was reading to both of them.

Wanting to further encourage her daughter’s love of books, Haleema wrote to the Library of Congress. Carla Hayden responded with an invitation for a shadow day.

The 14^th Librarian of Congress, Hayden is both the first woman and the first African American to hold the position. In her previous roles heading public libraries in Baltimore and Chicago, she developed a reputation for making the institutions she served welcoming to all. After hearing about Arana, she was quick to bring the young lady aboard as a “librarian for the day.”

With Hayden at her side, Arana attended meetings, networked with library staff members, held readings and even proposed installing whiteboards in key hallways for members of the public — especially children like herself — to practice writing on.

Hayden and the staff finished the day incredibly impressed with Arana. The feeling was mutual, with the young librarian saying that the Library of Congress was her “most favorite, favorite, favorite library in the whole wide world.”

William L. Phelps

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