Books occupy a sacred place in Thom Barthelmess’ home, a renovated Humboldt Park church featuring exposed brick walls and eclectic modern decor.
On a landing overlooking the living room, the librarian — now curator of the Butler Children’s Literature Center at Dominican University in River Forest — created an inviting reading nook complete with floor-to-ceiling shelves, a floral print chaise lounge and a rabbit rug that his dogs love to curl up on.
Here, Barthelmess houses his extensive collection of kids’ books.
“A lot of these are ones I love to read aloud,” he says. “Kids have a great BS barometer. If you’re not deeply engaged in a book, their response is to tune out.”
At Dominican, Barthelmess teaches his grad students about the importance of curating library collections that are both “mirrors and windows,” reflecting kids’ own identities but also exposing them to new things.
“That’s really exciting to me,” he says.