> Don't ask me. I just remember that there was never enough to read so I had
> to re-read things a lot and when the concept of a library was introduced at
> school (Public School grades K-6) I was really frustrated because here was
> a whole room full of books and I was only allowed to take out 2 at a time
> and could only return them every 2 (I think) weeks when we had library
> class. I went to a lot of trouble to pick books that were really
> interesting (so worth re-reading) and had some size to them....not that any
> of them really did. Then later, I found that Bancroft had a library but
> that was 40 miles away and when we went to town, there were things to do so
> it really wasn't available to me till much later.
Well, I was born Aspie, so there's that. IQ of 141 or so, which they now
is really 171 or so, depending on which test.
Then again, I was also born, for good or ill, the second-youngest child of
a librarian. When I was growing up, my Mom was a librarian full-time.
When Mom was working, either we had a neighbor girl babysitting, or we
spent the day where Mom worked. We'd spend entire days in the Children's
Room of the library, reading -- if we were watched closely enough. I did
plenty of Further Reading.
When we weren't spending whole days in the library, Mom would bring home a
whole sack of books home from work. I was always reading. When I finally
got to Elementary School, I looked at the books available, and my jaw
dropped. "Don't you have actual -books-? Don't you have a Real Library?"
By First Grade or so, I was reading at the so-called "Sixth Grade Level,"
at least. I went to Lowell Elementary School's so-called "Library," and I
felt myself to be in a Vast Wasteland, with no Actual Books available. I
did find a relative handful of (marginally) Real Books (the "Rufus
Moffett" series for example), but it was mostly "Dick says, "Hi." Jane
says, "Hi." Dick says "How are you?" Jane says, "You show me Yours, I'll
show you Mine." Speaking of Tip & Mitten, probably.
Somehow, I wasn't the most popular kid with the teachers. Or the other
kids. Or the parents. Or the janitors. Und so weiter.
But the Librarians always like me. They knew Wassup. Back before Wassup
was Wassup.
--
Grizzly's Growls Podcast: <http://grizzly.libsyn.com>
Stories from the Hiber-Nation:
<http://grizzly.libsyn.com/index.php?post_category=story>
Blog: <http://grizzlysgrowls.blogspot.com>
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