Libraries and Me

When I was in sixth grade at Greenway School in Bisbee, Arizona, one of my schoolmates died. Billy Caldwell, the son of a local pharmacist, was a year older than I was, and he had been ill for a long time. I don’t remember the exact ailment, something to do with his heart, I believe, but it came as a shock to the whole school when he died. In lieu of flowers, people donated money to buy books for the school library.

Because he had been unable to participate in any outdoor sports, Billy had developed a love of reading. When it came time to purchase the books from those donated funds, his mother took charge of the project. My remembrance of Mrs. Caldwell is that she wasn’t a woman to be trifled with. I know for a fact that some of the teachers sniffed and tut-tutted at her selections, but Mrs. Caldwell paid them no mind. She made it her business to buy the kinds of books that her son had most loved to read.

When the books arrived, they were put on a special shelving unit under a plaque that said, “In Memory of Billy Caldwell.” I can tell you that the shelf in question was almost empty most of the time. There wasn’t a single “educational” book among them. Mrs. Caldwell had stocked it with the kinds of books other kids loved to read as well: The Bobbsey Twins, the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Judy Bolton, Trixie Belden, the Dana Girls. The Black Stallion books by Walter Farley were there, and so were some rather racy (for elementary school readers) Zane Greys–Riders of the Purple Sage, Robber’s Roost.

I doubt there are any of those books left in existence because the kids wore them out by reading them; by loving them. And because I spent a lot of time during seventh and eighth grades working in the library and checking books in and out, I snagged most of them and read them as well.

The stories I found there fostered my love of reading as well as my love of libraries. I suppose Billy Caldwell and his mother were partially responsible for my eventually abandoning teaching English in favor of becoming a librarian.

And here’s a hat tip to the Bisbee I grew up in. The school board decreed that school libraries were to be open one day a week during the summer. Being able to come and go that one day a week with a RadioFlyer wagon load of books to read was one of the high points of summer vacations.

Occasionally people write to me apologizing that they have read my latest book from a library collection. I don’t know why they feel a need to apologize. The free libraries we have in this country mean that even in times of fiscal uncertainty, people who can’t afford other kinds of entertainment can still lose themselves in the world of books.

So why am I talking about libraries? I’m writing this on a Thursday afternoon on the patio of our home in Tucson. Tonight I’ll be receiving an award from the Pima County Library Foundation. And next week, I’ll be participating in an event in Scottsdale that will benefit the Friends of the Scottsdale Public Library. At the time I agreed to do these two events, I thought we’d be in Tucson for the fall and early winter. Several circumstances combined to change our snowbird migration schedule for this year. That meant that we had to make a special trip down here for those two events. But I’m here and I’m doing them. Why? Because libraries are important!

As for Bella? She’s not much for libraries, but she’s glad to be here too. She’s outside chasing lizards. I’m happy to say she hasn’t caught one recently. Lizards are evidently harder to catch than moles.

17 thoughts on “Libraries and Me

  1. loved your article. reminded me of my childhood. grew up in the Adironacks in NY and developed a love of reading from my parents who would go to auctions and buy books and let me read whatever I wanted. also spent many free hours in town in the library. have instilled a love of books in a couple of my children by taking them to our local library when young. thank you for bringing back happy memories for me

  2. Congratulations on the award tonight. This was a fun walk down memory lane. I was a fan of most you listed.

  3. I love reading your blogs. Thanks for all the memories. And I totally agree that libraries are most important. I have found the local library in every place I have lived to be very important to me and my family. I have volunteered, worked as a substitute staff, been on a Friends board twice, and always love libraries and library staff. I always found the library and grocery store the first day we lived in a new town.

  4. Ohhhhh, Trixie Belden! Hardly ever see those old gems mentioned anymore, though they did a reprint of them a few years back. I still have my originals.

    Some of my earliest memories are of the library we went to every week when I was 4-8, I believe in Jewett City, CT. We lived in Lisbon, a tiny little cow town that didn’t have it’s own library and books have always been a big deal in my family. ANY kind of reading, really, including comic books. I can remember getting 4 of the 4 for $1 comic books, reading three of them and then harassing my brother to hurry up and finish with the fourth one (his first!) so I could read it too. I was a bit mean about it, too….. I’ve always been the reader of the family (I am almost 6 years younger than him) and I still read fast! I remember in the 6th grade going to the school library every morning and checking out two biographies. I would finish one before school let out (yeah…not a lot of listening in class that year……..) and finish the second one the next morning before I went to the library. I also averaged about a half dozen public library books a week and often talked my parents into buying me books and comic books.

    I believe if you look up “book worm” in the dictionary you’ll find my picture. 😀

  5. When I was growing up we had the Bookmobile, we lived in a rural area and the Kitsap County Library had a bookmobile that came every week to stop at a near by gas station/tavern/mini store. The librarian that drove it knew the type of books I likes so would always have a pile set aside for me. I too read very fast, sometimes wish I didn’t so I could be lost in the story longer. Love all of your books, usually wait until they come out in paperback to read and share with my friends.

  6. Mazel tov on your Library Foundation Award!! Can’t believe you’re here and I haven’t seen you. I’ll be on the look-out!!

  7. What a wonderfully touching story and tribute. Apparently this young man had a huge impact on your life. Libraries are important and we visit as often as we are able to do so. We’re pleased to say that all of our 8 grandchildren are avid readers. I’m sure, like you, it was the example being shown of reading that influenced them. We also used to read bedtime or naptime stories to our children. Those are wonderful memories for me.
    Thank you for sharing your life with us, it enriches mine immensely.

  8. I remember going to the library on Saturdays in Abilene, Texas and then to my dad’s office to play secretary. In the early 60’s I could only get books from the childrens section. Daddy had to convince the librarian to let me check out The Last Days of Pompeii. Those trips helped ignite a life long love of reading and libraries are still one of my favorite places to go. Congratulations on your award and thank you for your support!

  9. Congratulations on the award. Sometimes you can learn from sources other than books in the library. About twenty years before you were in the school library in Bisbee I was in the 7th grade and in the public Library in Safford AZ and listening to two older ladies (in their nineties) talking about how the morals in the valley had gone south. They determined that this could be traced to the first distribution of the Sears catalog

  10. I always enjoy your reminiscences, as well as your books! I, too, developed a love of reading and libraries at a very early age. My parents made sure that I owned and read the classics: all the Louisa May Alcott books, Jane Austin, the Brontes, etc., but my real love has always been mysteries. My parents did not approve of my reading boy’s books, however, so although they willingly bought me Nancy Drew, the Dana Girls, Trixie Beldon, etc., I was not permitted any of the Hardy Boys books. As I had no brothers, I had to become more resourceful. I made friends with a boy down the street who owned the whole set of Hardy Boys! At the age of nine I could often be seen staggering up or down the street balancing a huge stack of these precious books. I believe since our mothers were friends, I was even permitted to read them. I still remember that one of my favorites was The Sinister Signpost. I believe that children who are permitted to read the kinds of books that they prefer are much more likely to become lifelong readers–and learners!

  11. I was in AZ this past week and my sister and a friend took me to Bisbee. We had a great time. Lunch at the hotel was wonderful. I’m sorry I missed you be a week when you will be in Scottsdale. Hopefully, you will be back in AZ in February. Many of your first books that I read were from the library. Now, I buy them, share them and enjoy reading them again when I get them back. I sort of have my own lending library. Reading for my family came from my mom and has continued to my son who is 28 and travels a lot for work. Thank you for continuing the love of reading.

  12. As a school librarian, I thank you for this post. We need all the support we can get these days. Tough times all over…

  13. First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I just remembered I forgot to send you a card, but will as soon as I post this.

    Has there been a write-up about your award winning event in Tucson last Thursday night? I have been checking the Star, but haven’t seen anything. Hope someone covered it.

  14. Hi Judy – I finished reading Second Watch last week and I can not tell you how much I enjoyed it. J.P. is my favorite of all of your characters and I can not believe that you still come up with great plots for him. I, too, am a regular at the library- just can not afford to buy all of the books I read in a year. I do not understand people who don’t go to the library – I always say it is like going into the best department store and being able to buy anything you want! Growing up in the summer we had a “bookmobile” – once a week it arrived down the street from my house and I would go and pick out as many books as I could carry. Don’t know if you ever saw one but it was sort of like a mobile home with bookshleves running down both sides and an aisle in the middle. I wonder if they had them in your part of the country. This was in Yonkers, NY which is a suburb outside of the Bronx/Manhattan. Fond memories! All the best to you and please don’t run out of ideas.

  15. We didn’t have a book mobile in rural Iowa where I grew up, but we had the State of Iowa’s Traveling Library. Mom wrote to them telling our ages and interests. They would send us a big package of books that we could keep for six weeks. They were wrapped in brown paper tied with string. They even enclosed return postage in a little envelope. I remember Mom unwrapping the package carefully so she could use the paper when sending the books back. My sister and I had the books read almost as soon as she had the paper folded.

  16. I get most of my reading from the local Library,I average two books every 8-10 days
    This is where I have Discovered several Great Authors including yourself. I have read the entire collections of all of them and I am waiting for more.

    I thank my Father for his Gift of Reading

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