When I was in fifth grade, I lived in a small rural Kansas town with a population of 505. Our community was so small that we shared a school with a neighboring town. I believe that each grade had around 12-15 students. We had a small school library with an impressive encyclopedia set that included ALL of the volumes. We also had a fabulous school librarian (three days a week).
It was around this time that I developed my love of reading. I found myself getting lost in stories, and reading about a world I couldn’t comprehend. I traveled to places in books that I could not even imagine. I eventually stumbled on the Nancy Drew mystery series, and I was hooked. Our library only had a few of the books, but I would check them out, devour them, and then read them again. One library day, the librarian called me over and said that she had noticed that I liked Nancy Drew. She told me that she had borrowed some new books from another library, and would I like to check them out. I was so excited to take the three new mysteries home and read them.
Over the next year, she borrowed as many titles as she could find and I read them voraciously. She also encouraged me to read other stories and she kept me expanding my reading lists. Near the end of the school year, we moved to Texas to a much larger community that had public libraries and much bigger school libraries.
I was so excited that summer when my mom took us to the library to get library cards. But it was overwhelming to have to choose a book from so many. My mom browsed the aisles and selected a couple of books for me while I also chose a book. When I got home, I loved the books my mom chose, but wasn’t as thrilled with the one I chose. I asked her how she could find books that I liked better than I could. She told me that she just chose what she would have enjoyed at my age.
I don’t think I have been without a book in my possession since then. And all because a kind librarian saw me, and took notice of what I liked.
I was talking with my granddaughter, Tavi about this story recently and I asked if she had ever read the Nancy Drew mysteries. She had not, so I ordered a copy of the first book and gave it to her. A few weeks later, she told me that she had finished it, and I asked her if I could borrow it. I was curious if the book would still be relevant. I will admit that I have forgotten a lot in the last 55 years, but I did enjoy the story.
As we sat around the Thanksgiving table, Tavi mentioned that she wanted to read more of the stories. Then she grinned and said, “I like it when I get to the end of a chapter, and I smile because what I’ve read makes me happy.” The adults at the table all smiled and said, “Awww” and we laughed. Passing on the love of reading is the greatest gift. And Nancy Drew . . . you still rock!