My first childhood memory of visiting a library is still fresh. My small town had a downtown library in a brick building with a large number of stone steps leading up to the big front doors. My mother, a school teacher, had judged my behavior for the week to be worthy of the "treat" of a library visit. As we approached the big front desk, we placed a good number of books on the desk to return them and to have them counted for the library's summer reading program. A large and long paper book-worm rose across the wall, adorned with many pieces of multi-colored paper bearing the names of children. The more books they read, the further up the book-worm their names rose. I was looking forward to having the Librarian move my name up further as a result of my returning the books that I had read over the course of the past week. "Oh my," exclaimed the library lady behind the desk, "there is no way he read all these books!" My normally mild mannered mother rose up in stature and in a voice usually reserved for lectures to my brother and me, she directed, "You just ask him a question from any of those books! He's read them." I quickly and succinctly answered the few questions posed to me.The library lady shook her head in disbelief, but she moved my name up that paper bookworm to the lead position. My mother didn't say another word, but stood tall with what I took as pride in her son and took me by the hand as we went into the children's section to make some more selections for the coming week. I planned on having good behavior next week so we could come back again....and again....and again.

What is your favorite library memory?

5A - Yes to Libraries
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