I had someone ask me a few questions, and I am going to try to answer some of them. This question seemed fairly easy – do we go to the library? At first I hesitated to answer this question as I figured my answer would not go over very well, but the truth is we almost never go to the library. We buy most of our books. I love to look at old books online and if someone mentions a book that sounds good I will immediately look for it and order it. I love to add new books to our library. I am a book lover and I almost never regret buying a book. All of us also love old books and the classics and some of the really old books are not in the library – so I also hunt them down and order them. I love having the books we love right here in our home to pick up and read anytime we want.
It isn’t that we have never used the library. We used to go every week or two to the large downtown library and spend hours there looking at books and checking them out. It was in that library that I found so many old and out of print books that we all came to love. It had a “stack room” as they called it with all of the older books in that room — books that most people never checked out. But, for some reason this library held on to these old books. We would go in that room and look and look and always go home with new treasures. I will always be so thankful we found that room and so many lovely books to read. They eventually closed the “stack room” and we could no longer visit it, but we had already found many treasures.
So, now when someone mentions a good book or I read a blog post and they mention a book I have never heard of – but it sounds really interesting – I usually look for it online and purchase. Then we have the book for years and years to enjoy. This just seems to work for us. We now have collected hundreds of books and even my adult children will talk about their favorite books as kids and the ones we read together. I am always looking for something new to read to the kids and love suggestions from people.
I do love the feeling of walking into the library surrounded by so many books – it does give me such a lovely feeling. I still remember fondly all those days at our downtown library going through book after book after book. But, now it is a little harder to go and with so many people recommending wonderful books to me I find that for now it works better for us to just buy our books and add them to our library. But, I’m not saying that one day we won’t start going again.
Evelyn, my granddaughter, loves me to read to her. Every single time she comes over she finds a book and brings it to me to read. She also loves the outdoor kitchen which is where she is in this picture.
It sounds like you have a pretty huge library right at home. I love that you read to your girls and they enjoy it so much. I remember loving a series of books when I was a little girl called All-Of-A-Kind Family, about five sisters whose ages were like stepping stairs, maybe 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10. I just adored those girls. But since it was so long ago, I don't know if they are still timely or not, or if you have maybe read one of them. I loved books so much. I worry about today's kids, so immersed in their social media. Reading is a lost art.
You have reminded me we have that book in our home library, but have not read it in a long time. I think it may be a good read for this summer. I’m not even sure I have read it to Bethany and I know Piper and Tess have not heard it. Thanks. I am so glad my kids love books- of course, our kids have very little access to any social media or tv so I’m sure that helps.
Having a large home library is great – but so is your local public library's children's room! Not only for wonderful, imagination-inspiring fiction, but also for learning more about all kinds of topics, attending library programs on just about everything: storytime, great movies that are unlikely to hit the big screen but which are based on children's books, crafts and activities related to books or topics of interest, meeting authors and illustrators, connecting with other families, and so much more.
Please keep on reading at home – but please, get yourself and your children acquainted with your local children's room and children's librarian and become regular library users, to get the best use out of your public library and to provide unforgettable experiences for your children. Have fun!
from Susan in Kentucky
Retired Children's Librarian (as you probably guessed!)
The delightful "All of a Kind" series was written by Sidney Taylor, and should still be available at the library, though you might need to use interlibrary loan to get some of the volumes. It was also available in paperback for a long time.
Librarian Susan in Kentucky.
I thought you might be a librarian!
Yikes! Been retired too long! Make that SYDNEY Taylor!
A related new book, "All-of-a-Kind Family Hannukah", was just honored by the American Library Association with the what else??) annual Sydney Taylor Award for outstanding books for children and teens that authentically portray the Jewish experience". This recognition will draw new attention to the original series, certainly something to celebrate!
Susan in Kentucky, still wearing my rather dusty librarian hat…
I’m thinking of pulling out our All- Of -A -Kind-Family and reading it this summer. Sometimes I forget we have something and my memory needs to be jolted.