One of the most startling things we learned this year is that 48.6 percent of trauma victims in our state of Oregon are younger than six years old. And infants make up the largest single group of victims. These children may experience violence at home or within their neighborhoods; they may face separation from a parent or caregiver because of divorce, death, incarceration, or even military deployment.

We were attending a training session offered by the Children’s Relief Nursery, a local nonprofit group with a mission “to keep children safe and families strong,” and a vision “to end child abuse and neglect in our community.” The workshop not only heightened our awareness of this vulnerable segment of our population, it gave us a trove of empowering information on recognizing and working with children experiencing trauma. It also made us realize how much public libraries have to offer these children and their families.

Early childhood is a unique period when a child’s brain is forming connections that will affect her throughout her lifetime. It comes as no surprise to learn that trauma negatively impacts brain development in children from birth to five years of age. A threatening environment shuts down the learning brain as the lower brain, responsible for the “fight or flight” response, takes over. Trauma also affects a child’s relationships with others, which are important not only for her social-emotional growth, but also her cognitive development.

We were especially interested in what the trainers call “core intervention strategies.” The most important intervention, we learned, is to “build the parent-child relationship.” We quickly conjured up an adult and child cuddled up on a cozy chair, sharing a good picture book. Then we envisioned the teen parents in our early literacy classes, learning soothing lullabies to share with their newborns. Reading and singing to children is one of the most powerful bonding experiences.

We also learned that “building feelings identification” is a crucial strategy. We immediately thought of all the wonderful books that help children do just that. Sitting on our desk that very day were two fine board books, Tad Hills’s Duck & Goose: How Are You Feeling? (Random, 2009) and Todd Parr’s The Feelings Book (Little, Brown, 2000). We’d put them aside after another recent training, on the connection between social and emotional skills deficits and school failure, where we had heard: “When children are able to express their feelings verbally, they are less likely to act them out behaviorally.” We thought about how we have a whole library full of books for these children.

The presenters moved on to “building coping skills.” We were back to the library’s book collection, this time thinking about Molly Bang’s When Sophie Gets Angry—Really, Really Angry… (Scholastic, 1999) and how it so effectively shows young children a very powerful strategy for coping with anger. That prize-winning picture book stayed in our minds as we learned about “building narrative with parent and child” (how many remarkable discussions has that one book sparked over the last decade?) and “being a conduit or translator ‘speaking for the child.’”

The next strategy was: “use body-based and/or sensory interventions… such as music and sensory activities.” We thought of calming songs like Hush, Little Baby and all the fingerplays we know and love, and baby-tickling rhymes such as “Round and round the garden goes the teddy bear….” We thought of the key roles that songs and rhymes play in our storytimes for babies and toddlers. We pictured the library’s fine collection of CDs offering lullabies, baby massage instruction, and all sorts of delightful songs, rhymes, and activities.

We left the training session with a clear understanding that the public library is a valuable community resource for families, therapists, counselors, and others dealing with childhood trauma. We who best know its treasures need to step forward and let them be discovered by more folks who can put them to good use.