“Mother Reading to Son” by Isabel Bloom 1960

These two cement sculptures are placed in a partially enclosed garden near the southwest corner of the Bettendorf Public Library. Originally, the sculptures sat on a ledge near the entrance to the library when it was located at 2211 Grant Street. The figures served as the library's trademark. The artist, Isabel Bloom, chose cement as a medium for its strength and because she worked with it in other garden figures. "I had to think of sturdiness," she stated in a 1960 Des Moines Register article. "Children are going to climb on the ledge and handle the figures."