I am a child of the 70's and yes, I was one of those kids who loved playing outside till the street lights came on, enjoyed the Saturday morning cartoon line up, fought for the toys inside our cereal boxes but most of all, lived for day trips to our public library.
My sister and I either walked, or rode the bus to the library most every weekend. My father didn't give us rides anywhere but he did concede to library pick ups. Sometimes, we stayed all day nestled in a chair, or a nook reading to our hearts content. My sister was either in my line of sight or I at least knew where she was stationed. Somedays, we left early with our bounty. Carefully walking out to our beat up prehistoric station wagon with stacks so high you couldn't even see our faces framed by our stringy hair.
Once home I can remember those piles of treasures almost like it was Christmas. Novels, picture books, nonfiction or informational- it didn't matter to us.There were whole complete worlds at our fingertips. Dozens of titles to jump into. Who cares if one was bad, or didn't suit my fancy? I had at least 12 or more left to try. And don't forget there was my sister's stash, too. If one of us liked one of our books, we traded, or recommended the book highly to the other.
I'm not naive enough to think, or proclaim that everyone needs be an avid reader. I'm also not trying to paste my childhood experience ( my love of reading) on anyone. But what I do think is the public library provides immeasurable opportunities and experiences for everyone. And most importantly, that experience should not be restricted in any way, nor should it go away.
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