My Childhood Memory of the Library (7th in a series)

Going to the library with my family of nine was a big production of finding books (and children) and loading them in the car.  They were stately old Carnegie libraries, and I’m sure we were not the quietest patrons there.  I discovered the 741 section by watching my older siblings.  That’s where they kept the cartoon books.  I’m not sure if we enriched our minds, but the library kept us entertained for a few hours.

That's my childhood memory of the library...what's yours?

My Childhood Memory of the Library (6th in a series)

I thank my mother for encouraging my lifelong love of all things library.  We made frequent trips to our local library, wandering the stacks, filling our book bags.  When we returned home, Mom would look at our latest finds spread out on the table and exclaim, “Aren’t we rich!”  And indeed we were.

That's my childhood memory of the library...what's yours?

My Childhood Memory of the Library (5th in a series)

I have always loved reading and I used to walk to the library every week when I was a young teen, since my dad worked and my mom didn’t drive.  The library was about three or four miles away and I used to take out a stack of books every week.  My favorite books were the Nancy Drew mysteries and a mystery series called The Happy Hollisters.

I also used the library for homework and remember spending my Saturdays there making notes of the information I needed for a report or project for school.

That's my childhood memory of the library...what's yours?

Titanic Sinks!

100 years ago this month one of the most written about tragedies in modern history took place, the sinking of the "unsinkable" luxury passenger liner the Titanic.  Checkout the latest titanic nonfiction reads for adults.

My Childhood Memory of the Library (4th in a series)

Growing up in central Florida was full of hot hot summers.  The library was one of the few places with air conditioning.  Going to pick out books was always so inviting and cool.  Even more exciting was the book mobile that came to our neighborhood once every two weeks.  It was also air conditioned!  The summer of 3rd grade was a particular scorcher without our normal afternoon showers to cool things off.  I remember waiting on the steaming hot pavement in the hazy, humid afternoon, eagerly waiting my turn to walk through the traveling library and choose my books.  My favorite books that summer were Madeleine L’Engle’s  A Wrinkle in Time and Jack London’s Call of the Wild and White Fang.  Losing myself in the frozen Alaskan wilderness or the coolness of outer space and time travel gave me many hours of imagined chilly summer fun.  That summer I read all 50 books on the summer reading list and cemented my joy of reading forever.

That's my childhood memory of the library...what's yours?

My Childhood Memory of the Library (3rd in a series)

I got my first library card at the age of eight.  I don’t remember the first book I signed out, but it was likely Jo’s Boys, as I had received Little Women and Little Men for my eighth birthday.  Louisa May Alcott continued to be a favorite author as I read the many books on the shelf in the Children’s section by her.

One  memory I have is that I signed out a book at 9:00 AM one morning and returned it at 4:00 PM that same afternoon, as I had finished reading it already.  The librarian scolded me for returning it on the same day--I confused him when I wanted to sign out another book and he couldn’t find the card as it was in the current day’s drop slot.  It probably wasn’t a happy moment then, but I wasn’t deterred from reading as much as I could and as often as I could.  The library truly opened new worlds to me.

That's my childhood memory of the library...what's yours?

My Childhood Memory of the Library (2nd in a series)

When I was little, my dad took me to the Round Lake Public Library in Round Lake, Illinois on the weekends.  My brothers were never interested, and I was my daddy’s princess on our exclusive trips.  For many years, the library was in a little storefront, and the sweet ladies were always excited to see us.  I so enjoyed going to the library with him!  There are so many books that I loved, but one of my favorites was My Friend Flicka by Mary O’Hara.  And the sequel, Thunderhead, I loved even more!

That's my childhood memory of the library...what's yours?

My Childhood Memory of the Library

As a child, one of my favorite places to visit was the library in downtown Lawrenceville, Georgia.  I can still remember the exciting feeling I would get as my mom, brother, and I walked down the sidewalk to the steps that led up to the library.  As a child, I thought  the library was such a big place.  But in reality, our library was in a very small building that looked like a house.  I would always look for my favorite childhood book, Be Nice to Spiders, by Margaret B. Graham.  It was a sweet story about a spider named Helen who ended up living in the zoo.  A few years later, the library moved to a bigger location right down the street from my high school.  When I was a teenager and could drive myself to the library, I’d still drive by the old library location and just sit in my car, remembering all the fond memories I had of “my”  library.  That’s what it felt like to me.  My parents didn’t have a lot of money, so we didn’t have a lot of books of our own.  My favorite memory will always looking back as I was leaving and having the sweet librarian smile and tell me to come back soon.  She made this shy girl feel so special!

That's my childhood memory of the library...what's yours?

…I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree…

Poetry...it’s one of the earliest forms of literature that we all are exposed to.  At a young age, we enjoyed the rhythm and language of nursery rhymes.  In school we studied the great poets, Wordsworth, Browning, and Thoreau.  We turn to it for romantic inspiration.  But when’s the last time you took time to enjoy some good poetry, or better yet, sit down and write your thoughts in prose?  What better time to do it than now?

April is National Poetry Month.  In 1996, the Academy of American Poets established April as National Poetry Month in an effort to highlight and celebrate the art of poetry. 

According to the Academy of American Poets, National Poetry Month is a month-long, national celebration of poetry.  “The concept is to widen the attention of individuals and the media—to the art of poetry, to living poets, to our complex poetic heritage, and to poetry books and journals of wide aesthetic range and concern. The hope is to increase the visibility and availability of poetry in popular culture while acknowledging and celebrating poetry’s ability to sustain itself in the many places where it is practiced and appreciated.”

The Academy maintains a website and plans several events for the month of April.  Highlighted are a few that just might get your creative juices flowing.

• Celebrate National Poem In Your Pocket Day on Thursday, April 26, 2012!  The idea is simple: select a poem you love during National Poetry Month, then carry it with you to share with co-workers, family, and friends.  You can also share your poem selection on Twitter by using the hashtag #pocketpoem.
• Subscribe to receive a poem a day by email through the Poets.org website, or on your smart phone by downloading the Poem Flow app for the iPhone or iPod Touch.
• Support and learn about our local Georgia poets. 

CHECK OUT THESE TITLES AND MORE AT YOUR LOCAL BRANCH

We Almost Disappear by David Bottoms

David Bottoms has served as Georgia's Poet Laureate and was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame in 2009. He teaches at Georgia State University and co-edits Five Points magazine.  He lives in Marietta, Georgia.

How to Write Poetry by Paul Janeczko

An award-winning poet shares advice and instructions for writing poetry with kids--from keeping a journal to developing an actual poem--in an essential handbook for every aspiring poet which includes a bibliography of great poetry books.

 A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson

Here is a classic, illustrated edition of one of the best loved poetry collections in the world. Lavishly illustrated with more than 100 pictures by the most distinguished children's book artists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this edition of A Child's Garden of Verses contains all the poems that appeared in the original book, published over 100 years ago.

Harry Potter eBooks are here!

If you haven’t read the captivating series of Harry Potter books, you now have the opportunity to do so without having to lug around those big, thick books.  All seven titles in the series are now available in eBook format from your favorite library – FCPL!  Visit Harry and his friends as they venture through their magical world in the books below: