Best Place to Take Your Children on a Hot Summer Afternoon

With its warped oatmeal-colored walls and humped floor covered in gray carpet, the children's section of the Plaza library is an invitation to parental neglect. Kids don't care that bookcases canter at odd angles, and such flaws are strange solace to frazzled parents who can relax in air-conditioned comfort, knowing there isn't much in the room that hasn't already been dropped, thrown or fought over. That includes Jerry the six-foot-tall papier-mache giraffe and 41,000 books. Stacks of Harry Potter. Two copies of Old Yeller. Dr. Seuss. Shel Silverstein. Beverly Cleary. If the tiny chairs at the tiny tables are too restrictive, there's plenty of sprawling-out space on the floor. Between reads, little eyes can explore the miniature library shadow boxes complete with book scanners, and little hands can click the mouse on one of four Internet-linked computers. The children's section is a full floor away from the adults', so friendly librarians seldom shush.