What the library means to me

I knew how to read when I entered first grade at the age of five (almost six).  My mother told me that no one every taught me how to read -- I just picked it up from being read to, practically from birth.  I started first grade in the fall of 1954, and --because of the baby boom -- I went to school for only half a day that entire year.  I clearly remember being in reading groups -- sadly what I remember most is being extremely bored.  This was the era of the Dick and Jane books, and there was little to captivate an already proficient reader!  At that time, though, I don't think the idea of differentiated teaching had any place in public schools.  All kids were taught pretty much the same thing.  I have to say, though, that I loved going to school and I loved learning new things.

I intend to use this blog to write about books -- books I have read, books I am reading, and books I want to read.  I might even write about books I want to write!  Doesn't everyone want to write a really good book?  I will also write about how books have influenced my life and my education -- how books have shaped who I am.

What does the library have to do with this?  The summer before I entered third grade, we moved into "the country" outside Washington, D.C.  (It is now high-density suburbs!)  Every Saturday, my father and I would go to the library -- I'm not even sure where that library was.  It might have been in Vienna, Virginia.  Our address was Oakton, but I don't think there was a library in Oakton. Anyway, at that time, there was a limit to how many books could be checked out, and every week my father convinced the librarian to allow me to check out more than whatever the limit was.  And thus began my lifelong relationship with the public library!