Real Books

My father started up a business with a couple of other men, one of whom became a good friend of his, Saulie.  Saulie was somewhat older than my dad, hence he had older children as well.  One day a new world opened up to me when Dad brought home a box full of girls’ books!  Saulie’s daughter had given me all her girlhood books and I was thrown into a tizzy of excitement.

But first, let me step back and recount my oft-told tale of how I first got hooked on reading.  In Grade 4 my teacher Mrs. Beattie set up a small library on the back shelf in our classroom.  If we finished our assigned reading we were allowed to go to the back of the class and choose a book to read.  Well, it took me forever to get up the courage to walk back there but  eventually I did and the first book I chose happened to be the perfect book for me, “Little House in the Big Woods”.  Oh my goodness, I was hooked from the beginning.  I ADORED “the olden days” and Garth Williams illustrations were so wonderful I was immediately drawn into the story.   
My parents had paperback books at home but we did not have any children’s books (I imagine there weren’t any available at the grocery store where I believe my parents mostly chose their books from those grid ring bookstands).  Book stores were not commonplace in those days, particularly in suburbs.  I actually don’t remember ever being in a book store until I was in downtown Winnipeg and even that wasn’t a book store but the top floor of The Bay or Eaton’s!  I think my first Cole’s book store was in Kitchener when I would have been about 19 or 20.

But I digress.  What I meant to say was that at home we had adult books but other than the Golden Books for “babies” we didn’t have children’s books.  So one day I picked up Peyton Place for the simple reason that I had seen the soap opera when I was home sick with a cold or flu.  I read that one when I was also in Grade 4!  The following year a classmate lent me a Nancy Drew book and now I was definitely hooked on reading.  As well, that year the school opened up their library and suddenly books became available to me.  One of the first books I chose from the library was “Half Magic” by Edward Eager and then I discovered the whole series of Little House books.  Wow!

When I opened up the box of books from Saulie I suddenly found another world of authors.  “Little Women”, “Heidi”, “Maida’s Little Island” and “Judy, Patrol Leader” were new and wonderful stories.  I have them still on my children’s bookshelf along with companion books.  Books became cemented into my DNA and I simply cannot imagine a world without them!  While I believe that observing parents’ reading does encourage a child to read, some of us are natural born readers – regardless.