I have a true fear that as Cole makes his way through his school years that the warp speed of continuing advanced technology will make specific items that I grew up with as I walked the echoing halls of grade school obsolete. That said, I cannot and probably will never embrace e-readers and e-books. I understand their convenience and the long term savings involved but how can anyone contribute to an industry that might keep future generations from filling their bookshelves with BOOKS!!!?? I realize this might not be a "green" approach and that my perspective is quite conflicting with my love of majestic trees but I just can't wrap my head around a time when it could be possible to never turn a physical page; to sit in a child's room at bedtime and swipe an IPAD as one reads Dr. Seuss, Eric Carle or Shel Silverstein? No thank you!
I began taking Cole to the library back when he was learning to walk. Our local branch had storytime and though it was a melee of chaos with very little actually being heard, we did it regularly. As he got older, we frequented the kid's area and sat reading and doing puzzles. I began picking out books every other week for his preschool to give the teachers some fresh tales to share as I know how nuts I felt at times reading and rereading the same books for weeks/months when Cole found a favorite.
When Cole moved from the toddler side to the big boy side of Montessori, we began researching and choosing books that matched his monthly curriculum (countries, geography, people, cultures). Many times I reserve books online and he helps me find our number amongst the mass piles. Each and every week we have done this for almost four years.
At the start of the year, the library system updated their policies which limited the amount of books one could take out on one card. Since I also take out a significant amount of books, it was going to be near impossible to take those out, Cole's books and the ones we brought to school under the new and drastically reduced allowable count. I thought the age for getting a child a card was six but regardless I asked the friendly librarian we see so often. She said, "no, he can get one anytime with a responsible adult". Cole's eyes got big and he began jumping up and down at the prospect of having his own card! She took his information which he offered up (full name, DOB and address, mom supplied the phone #) and voila, she handed him his card to sign and a choice of colored holders for it. He was so ecstatic it simply made my heart sing! We filled our bag that afternoon and he checked those books out with his card with such pride and a beaming grin!
Every Monday when we head to Library Lane (yes that is their address), he puts his library card in his pocket and then I watch him in the rear view mirror quietly take it out and say the 15 digit # that is associated with it. I can't imagine not being able to lug a heavy bag of books out each week, stacking them in the basket by his bed and having him sit down each evening to pick two out for bedtime reading. I can only hope that his children someday will still be able to have that experience. If not, their grandma will have a huge stash of books in a box ready to stock their bookshelves!
No comments:
Post a Comment