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November 13, 2007

Reading Rainbow

I made a mad dash to the library Sunday afternoon twenty minutes before it closed. I went to the children's section, literally sweeping the display books by the armful into my bag. Then, I grabbed stacks and stacks of primary reader books- I was determined that Czarina would NOT run out of them this week. And for myself, I got the 4th Wrinkle In Time book, and two other books just because I liked the cover. (Yes, I am that shallow!) I sped to the checkout counter, a little out of breath, with library card in hand. I waited rather sheepishly as the librarian scanned my bajillion books. I felt a little greedy with all the books I had, but with four kids, it takes a lot to get us through the a whole week! I really need a wagon to tote them all around.

Anyway, as I was leaving, I was reminded again what a blessing the library is in my life. I would be a different person if it wasn't for this institution! Growing up, we certainly didn't have money to buy books. And without books... well, how much thinking would I have missed? How many character lessons would have passed me by? How many stories of bravery and loyalty and patience and a thousand other virtues would have never imprinted themselves on my little heart? How well would I have learned to see and empathize from different perspectives? Would ballet, physics, Chinese history, beekeeping, timetravel, sailing, forensics- would any of those things piqued my curiosity outside the framework of storytelling? How much of my natural optimism comes from the thousand happy endings I've read?

So much of who I am was formed in those moments I spent curled up with a book.

So that's why I make my mad dashes to the library. It's why we pile up on HeroBoy's bed, all those warm pajama'd little bodies pressed in so tightly that I can barely see the words to read. For those few minutes, we slip into the world of Miss Spider's New Car, Traction Man, and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. They laugh at the voices I do, and giggle at the silliness of a dog on a flying couch, they jump when I do the scary parts, they say "awwwww" during the adorable bits. They are as swept into the world of books as I have always been... and once again, the library changes a generation.

Books don't guarantee anything... literacy isn't a promise for a trouble-free life. But it is soil to grow amazing things. It is a rich, fertile garden, where little seeds can sprout into giant oaks.

The Daily | By WonderGirl | 9:56 AM

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Comments

Posted by: spiderlillies at November 13, 2007 2:11 PM

Posted by: susie vanderhoff at November 14, 2007 8:23 AM

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