Natchez — After less than an hour in the Judge George W. Armstrong Library, 7-year-old Rachel Misita had already picked out several “Rainbow Magic: The Jewel Fairies” books.

Rachel is a frequent visitor to the library. Outside of school, the library represents a place where children can come with their parents to get books and attend free programs promoting reading.

Currently, the second-floor children’s area is decorated for Thanksgiving. Stuffed animals are perched on bookcases, most of which are easily within the reach of a child.

Children’s Services Librarian Annette Moroney said she likes to highlight books that will catch children’s eyes.

“You want to be inviting so they’ll want to come back,” Moroney said.

Rachel and her brother, 8-year-old Joseph Misita, visit the library approximately once a week in between piano and ballet lessons. During one Wednesday trip their mother, Catherine Misita, said it gives them a chance to get new books.

“They’re supposed to read for school, so we come and replenish our own library,” Catherine said. “We have a lot of books at home, but you always need fresh ones.”

But the trips to the library don’t end when school does. During the summer Cathedral students Rachel and Joseph attended the 2015 summer reading program.

Moroney said the program had approximately 30 children in each of the four preschool programs and 75-100 children in each of the four elementary school programs.

Children were given a booklet to fill up with titles of books they’d read for prizes.

“I filled up all the pages so I got a lot of prizes,” Rachel said.

It’s not the only program the children have attended. Rachel and Joseph have a long history with the library, beginning when they came to story time for toddlers.

“We started reading books from day one,” Catherine said.

The library still hosts story time for toddlers with short stories and songs at 10 a.m. Monday. But the library is a familiar place to many children in Natchez for another reason too.

Some schools, such as McLaurin Elementary School, bring children to the library for field trips. Other schools such as Thompson Head Start Center bring children to the library for story time regularly, with different classes coming on different days of the week.

“We read stories at school, but we come here for a field trip in order to get kids out of the classroom,” Head Start teacher Eva Calvin said.

The children, Calvin said, get excited about going out and enjoy their time at the library. On one trip, the 3 to 4-year-olds made noises during certain parts of the stories, sang and danced.

“I think they see it (the library) as a place where they can come and have fun as well as check out books,” Moroney said.

Older children such as Joseph and Rachel get a chance to pick out their own books when they come. While Rachel looked at “Rainbow Magic” books, Joseph picked up a copy of “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.”

“I just read the first one and I couldn’t stop reading it,” Joseph said.

Joseph didn’t check the book out though, since he already has a copy from Cathedral’s school library. But the children prefer the Armstrong library, citing the same reason.

“I think this library has much more books than the school library,” Rachel said.

On the Wednesday trip, the children didn’t check out any books, because they had already reached their limits.

But Catherine said the children usually check out a total of five to 10 books a week, so it won’t be long before they’re back.