Kathy Zahler is a writer and editor and a member of the Dryden School Board. She is also the author of “Fifty Simple Things You Can Do to Raise a Child Who Loves to Read.”
I met my best friend in the library. The year was 1963, and the Tompkins County Public Library was located in two small rooms next door to the VFW Hall. Mark and I collided in the "biographical series" section of the children's room. Both of us loved these series, more because there were dozens of books to consume than because of any sincere interest in the lives of American heroes. Cyrus McCormick, Boy Reaper; Jenny Lind, Swedish Songbird--who cared? The quantity mattered more than the content.
We were not alone at the library. Our families were there, as they were there every Saturday of every week throughout our childhoods. Saturday mornings we gathered our books together in enormous, battered boxes, piled into the car, and rode to the library, where we hit the door and scattered like seeds--grown-ups to the grown-up room, little kids to the picture books, Mark and I to the biographies, or the Danny Dunn series, or the Narnia books.
After graduate school, I lived in New York for many years. As I moved from neighborhood to neighborhood, I became acquainted with many of the city's neighborhood libraries. Books were cheap and bookstores plentiful, but I never had the room for all I might want. The little local libraries became extensions of my various apartments.
When I realized that my freelance life allowed me to live anywhere I wanted, I looked around for a more permanent home. Number one on the list of requirements was a good library. I bought a house back here and got a mortgage, a checking account, and a library card, all in the first week.
My daughter started visiting the library on Cayuga Street during her first few months of life. After a while, she could push her stroller around by herself, grabbing books with appealing covers and tossing them into the basket. She got her own library card when she was three.
Olivia and I counted the days until the new library at Cayuga and Green opened. We visited it the very first day and have been there weekly ever since. She grabs a stool to reach her favorite Junie B. Jones books, wanders over to Amelia Bedelia, plops on a bench to read while I inspect the new books, and operates the self-checkout all by herself. She is as comfortable in the library as she is in her own home.
My best friend from childhood is now Olivia's Uncle Mark, my brother-in-law. Recently, one of Olivia's grandfathers celebrated his 75th birthday. In his honor, we set up a book fund at the library, commemorating in our way the thousands of pounds of books he carried for my siblings and me on Saturdays over the years. When Olivia's other grandfather reaches the same milestone, we will do the same for him. I can think of no better way to acknowledge their inspiring gift to us.
As an educator, I know that the three essential prerequisites to reading are accessibility, readability, and interest. In making the library a family routine, our parents provided us with all three. They gave us a seemingly endless source of reading material. They made sure that we could find materials that suited our age and ability. They introduced us to a place with materials on every topic and in every genre imaginable. Besides fulfilling these important prerequisites, they stressed the value of reading by making it an activity the whole family could share.
Nearly forty years later and five thousand miles apart, Mark and I still compete to read as much as possible about as much as possible. We still communicate about books that have inspired us, annoyed us, or educated us. Moreover, thanks to the legacy of our book-loving parents, we still consider the public library an extension of our own homes.
Family Reading Partnership
Ithaca, New York
Phone: 607-277-8602
Email: office@familyreading.org
