The Booking Through Thursday questions today were suggested by Margaret:
Whether you usually read off of your own book pile or from the library shelves NOW, chances are you started off with trips to the library. (There’s no way my parents could otherwise have kept up with my book habit when I was 10.) So … What is your earliest memory of a library? Who took you? Do you have you any funny/odd memories of the library?
The BookMobile came to our neighborhood every couple of weeks in the summer, when we didn't have access to our school library. It was exciting - almost as exciting as visits from the ice cream truck! I remember it feeling like a special treat to walk the few blocks to the van to discover what treasures it held this time. (There was always a chance I might run into Jimmy O'Brien there too!)
It was tiny. It was hot and cramped. It smelled of dust and diesel and sweaty little bodies. And I loved it. During those summers I discovered the stories of Helen Keller and Anne Frank, Clara Barton and Little Women. Here were adventure, inspiration, girl and women role models that were far out of the norm of my little 1960s suburban neighborhood: escape, all lined up on a few small shelves in an old van.We lived quite a distance from the brick and mortar public library, so having the BookMobile come to the neighborhood probably saved me from an overdose of MAD and TEEN magazines and daytime television.
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Read Elizabeth's skunk-book connection here and Angela's Nancy Drew memories here.
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