FacebookTwitter View Miranda Liasson's Posts on InstagramView Miranda Liasson on Goodreads View Miranda Liasson on Goodreads

Kiss a Librarian

By on Saturday, Oct 1, 2016 in Uncategorized | 3 comments

Share On GoogleShare On FacebookShare On Twitter

Most of us who love books have a story about how we first came to love them.587466749-super_librarian_poster

 

My mom was a huge reader, but we didn’t have a lot of money to buy books. But she was constantly hauling us off to the library. That was the only way I knew of to get books. The idea of a book store never even occurred to me until I was much older.

 

In fact, I came to love the smell of old books. The more bent, the more old fashioned, the more read, the more loved they seemed to be. I never longed for brand new books. To this day I prefer the smell and feel of the old, worn ones.151b187fbd1a75e32df1fa1f1b6d65b9

 

Books are your friends, my mother told me from a very young age, (like I’ve repeated the mantra to my daughters time and time again, your sister is your best friend, praying that it took!). When you’re sad, pick up a book, she would say. You’ll get lost in the world of the book and forget your own troubles for a while and when you stop reading, you’ll feel better.

 

She was right. So my mother began my love affair with libraries, but at our little library, there was a wonderful librarian whom I remember very fondly from my childhood. I remember her being…amazing.9170ea602bc85c5bbab8f7091d478ab7

 

She had this quiet way of knowing what you were doing and then suddenly coming over to you and saying, why don’t you try this book? Or, this book is better, it has better pictures. Or, I can order you another one in that series if you like it.

 

She never balked at all the endless questions we bombarded her with to get sources for school reports and projects. She was endlessly patient. She was the kind of person made you want to be curious–that rewarded our inquisitions with…answers. No assignment was impossible. And she taught me that maybe no one knows all the answers, but you can always look them up. And if our tiny library didn’t have what was needed, then by God, she’d find it somewhere else and ship it in for us.

 

Miss M. taught me that there was a big world beyond the confines of our tiny town, and to learn about it, all you had to do was pick up a book.

 

When I got into graduate school, I sent Miss M. a note thanking her for all she’d done. Looking back, I remember it was my mom’s idea. “She’s asking how you’re doing in college,” my mother would say. “Why don’t you drop her a little note.”

66b4521ebdb5a59ee6ba44cbea2c3276

 

Today, I’m so glad I did. Even though at the time I wrote that note, I had really no idea what a rare, wonderful person Miss M. was. In all my years of taking my own children to the library, we have met some very special librarians too, like the one who searched every corner of the universe to keep my preschool son supplied with dragon picture books during his dragon fetish.

 

For every kind, non-cranky librarian who loves children and doesn’t constantly shush you or snap at you, who treats your children wonderfully, who isn’t a compulsive rule follower and who loves to learn…thank you. You made all the difference.

 

Don’t wait until National Library Workers’ Day in April. Go hug and kiss your librarian today!

3 Comments

  1. Violet

    Sunday, October 2, 2016

    Post a Reply

    Lovely insight Miranda 🙂
    Always enjoy reading them ,
    But yes back when times were different books painted and took us to places out side of your local little world , back then you wouldn’t or couldn’t physically go ,it they gave us some great stories films or TV weren’t making , and yes let’s not forget the school reports !!! Well maybe let’s leave them right there lol
    Thanks again for lovely words and memories , Mrs M seems lovely

    • Violet

      Sunday, October 2, 2016

      Post a Reply

      Oh I hate spell check it doesn’t check it ! It changes them lol apologies above
      Three times I’ve gone back in this text , as it wouldn’t let me type hate ? Lol

      • Miranda Liasson

        Sunday, October 2, 2016

        Post a Reply

        Hi Violet! Oh, happy to have you stop by. And I’m so glad it didn’t let you type that nasty word hate 🙂
        Yes, it was a different time back then. Can’t imagine what we used to do without Google!
        I love reading on my kindle but I do still love holding a book in my hand, smelling it and all that. And Encyclopedias…we used to flip through them just to amuse ourselves and learn things along the way. I’m not sure I could ever have imagined downloading any book or movie instantly and watching it in the palm of our hand. Life is amazing! Thanks as always for popping in to say hello <3

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Top