Keeper of Books

"Young man!" our librarian demanded, "Where is your book?" Restless murmurs and squirming on the library rug stopped as all heads, in our third grade class, swiveled to look at the culprit. We were waiting for the weekly story to begin. Most of us had been distracted by our own thoughts or by each other. We were focused now, and waited in hushed anticipation. What was going to happen?

The poor boy looked down at his empty, book-less lap, "Well I intended to bring it, but..." His voice trailed off.

"You intended to bring it?! INTENDED?!" our librarian queried, raising her voice a notch higher. "Young man the streets of HELL are paved with good intentions!" We breathed a collective gasp as our mouths dropped open in shock.

"Is she allowed to say that?" we wondered.

WOW! Mrs. Ferrari, my first librarian, was a short, round woman who seemed very old by the time I met her. She had permanently permed hair, permanently pursed lips, and a piercing gaze, surveying her domain over her spectacles. When she spotted a problem, she pounced. "Quiet in the library!" Most of us were a little scared of her. But she was a soldier for her books and a faithful guide for us. She was passionate about training children to love words as much as she did.

"Children, don't ever write in the books you borrow from the library. Don't ever bend them backwards." she would exhort over and over. "And don't ever turn down the corner of a page to mark your place, NEVER! You may use a bookmark."

Then, with anticipation, she would say, "Children, listen to this story I have for you today!" We would sit and listen in rapt attention to her strident voice that had softened to the joy of reading and we looked at the pictures and were carried away to different lands.

Here was Alexander, having a no good, very bad day. There was Mike Mulligan finding a new job for his steam shovel. Don't forget dear literal, scatterbrained Amelia Bedelia or Harold and his Purple Crayon. These words she gave to us -- these books she introduced us to -- We grew from them. And so do children today, each time they listen to a good book.

Technology has changed our librarians into media specialists and our libraries into media centers. Now you can download a book and listen to it in your car or IPOD, or read it on a Kindle. While I understand that these advances are good things, please, let it never be that we won't have the solid, comforting object that is a book! One that feels heavy in your hand, with colorful binding and pages of paper with printed words and sometimes beautiful pictures that describe more than the words themselves. May we always take time to sit down together with a good book.

This blog that I am starting was prompted by a class assignment, and I am glad of it. I want to use it as an opportunity to share information about great books and ideas on how to encourage reading and literacy, especially among our young readers. I have a vested interest. I am a mom. If we show our children how to love words, they can carry that lesson with them and grow forever.