Reporter's notebook: Overnight adventures

Parting is such sweet sorrow.

That was the feeling, perhaps, among some of the children Friday afternoon dropping off their cherished stuffed animals for an after-hours interlude at the Clovis-Carver Public Library.

Youth Services Librarian Rachel Meeks said she saw the concept online and at other libraries, but believed this was the first time it was implemented in Clovis' library. Over a dozen young children began streaming into a meeting room of the library at 5 p.m. to drop off stuffed pets - a moose, a seal, a snake, among others - along with vital information corresponding to each, such as their name and favorite snacks.

At 10 a.m. today the children will return to the same room and find their friends of fabric and cotton right where they left them, but with an accompanying "memory book" chronicling their overnight adventures at the library.

It may be the first night in a while for some of the children to be without their cohorts, even for a night. The same will go for the stuffed pets, but at least they have each other for company.

Much of the creatures' nocturnal exploits will be documented by library staff, but The News will attempt to get an exclusive interview with one or more of the stuffed animals - or their representative children guardians - as this story develops.

- Compiled by Staff Writer David Grieder