Now Nana is in cyberspace with a bunch of her great grandkids!
Nana grew up in an apartment over a library and since Depression-era children did not get many books as gifts - even at Christmas - the library became her home away from home. She told me that her parents always knew where to find her and that the librarian allowed her to shelve and dust the stacks. When she married my Dad he was in the army and everywhere they were stationed she would seek out the local library before even locating the nearest grocery store.
When I was five, we moved to North Syracuse and the little white house that served as the Free Library became a famiar and frequent destination for me and my siblings. I got my first library card when I was in the second grade. I really liked the Jack & Jill and the Highlights magazines and some of the illustrated fairy tale books. Make Way for Ducklings was another of my favorites.
When I was nine years old, Mom had me check out Little Women and we discussed the developments in the novel every morning at breakfast. We both had tears in our eyes when we talked about Beth dying. Nana next suggested The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew. Soon I was hooked on a series of books Mom had found in the library about Sue Barton, a fictional nurse. I followed her career in medicine passionately (Sue Barton: Student Nurse, Sue Barton: Senior Nurse, Sue Barton: Visiting Nurse, Sue Barton: Nurse Administrator and finally Sue Barton: Neighborhood Nurse (she had married her doctor boyfriend, had three children and was on hand whenever a rabid dog or a heat wave threatened her suburban neighborhood).
Mom was so frequent a visitor to the library that she was offered a job. I remember how thrilled she was! "A dream job - to handle all the newest mysteries before another soul had cracked them open". There was always a big pile of novels on her nightstand and most nights her reading lamp would be on far into the wee hours as she rushed to finish the final chapter of a hot item that needed to be cataloged in the morning. She continued recommending books to me and my brothers and sister. I loved the Hardy Boys but had little use for Nancy Drew. I became a fan of biographies and became an expert (or "know-it-all" as my Dad put it) on the likes of Clara Barton, Florence Nightingale, Harriet Tubman and Emily Dickinson. And then I discovered the poets!
Favorite Poems Old and New was renewed for me so often that there are photographs taken in our living room during that period in which that volume is visible.
There are so many things I am thankful to Nana for. Her careful fostering of my love of reading is surely one of the most important.
