Saturday, June 20, 2009

BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS!

"I cannot live without books."
Thomas Jefferson

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love books. While I love going to a Borders, Barnes & Noble or even an independent store like Young Heart Books, I fell in love with them at Riverhead Free Library. I remember catching the bus in the summer and going to the book exchange they had. Think of it ... a town that supported a bus route in the summer to pick up kids and bring them to the library! It was fun getting to the bus stop and doing that book exchange with the other kids from the neighborhood, a break from backyard baseball and swimming lessons at the Sound. I also remember being allowed to walk there after school at St. John's to work on a book report. Freedom.

It was so much fun going there that I kept it up as an adult. When I was pregnant with Jack, I visited the library in Richland. I got a great pregnancy book out and renewed it for 9 months. When he was born we took our first visit at 9 months. He stood holding onto a table and watched as I named animals in the puzzle we did "together". It even had a "stage" for puppet shows and other events.

When I moved to Somerset, I joined Mary S Biesecker library. They always have new books, and they have new great activities for kids. Though its the tiniest library I have ever been in, it has the best summer programs for kids and always spends $ getting new books.

We still go to the Riverhead Library when we visit the old homestead. There is always something going on there, magic shows, art and crafts, book clubs and ...Annie and Chris...remember the Friday night movies?? Such fun. Now it has a cafe and I can pick up Reading Teacher and pretend I am educated.

Visit your local library!

2 comments:

Cathy said...

I, like you, love the library. I'm especially fond of the Mary S. because, as a kiddie, my mom, brother, and I would ride bikes there,go to story time and always return with a full basket of new reads.

I still go there...there is something about the smell in that library that always takes me back to my childhood. love it...love it, love it, love it!

Chris said...

libraries and librarians are the worst.