For the Love of Books

The world is changing and there is no denying that things that once were coveted are falling to the wayside. This is not a new phenomenon by any means, but it’s the coveted “things” disappearing that now bring concern to our society, one in particular… books. We all remember the iconic scene of Beauty and the Beast where Belle enters the wall-to-wall library in awe, excited to read books she never knew existed. For some of us, entering the New York City Library or the Library of Congress brought the same excitement. There were books as high as the eye could see in every direction. We walked through the buildings in wonder, touching bindings old and new, reading titles and pulling out a book every once in a while to read the first passage.

For me, I grew up with books in our home. My parents were avid readers, and when we were growing up, books replaced a television. Over time our library grew until the books were donated to make room for new ones. When we moved, books were the first to be donated so that our military family could make our allotted weight limit. But again, we would grow our new library. We were never a public library family. I think it was too difficult to take five children to the library and keep an eye on everyone, so my parents bought books.

When I had my own children, I followed my parent’s example and took my children to bookstores to pick out books each week. I never denied my children a book when they asked for one. I knew that reading was the cornerstone to being successful in every aspect of life. Who was I to deny my children of that success? My students benefitted from my love of books as well. When I retired, I gave children in my school the books I had collected over 20 years of teaching.

For myself, I had to curb my reading of books, so that I could get other things done in life. Like my mother, and now daughter, we are cover-to-cover readers – and real life stands still until our imagination is placated and the book is done. But still, we had our bookshelves of books, beckoning us every day to read. My mother’s book room was a miniature Belle library, housing over 1,200 books sorted by author. My daughter’s collection began from the floor, stacked up the wall in open spaces until she went off to college to be a literature major. Her books are now boxed and waiting for when she has her own home big enough for a library. But here’s the question…will she want the books?

What we are seeing across our nation is the shift away from hard and paperback books. Tablets are finding their way into hands of small children, and they are learning to read digitally. Major bookstores are teetering on bankruptcy, and libraries strain to keep readers coming or using the facilities from home. Books that once found their way into the hands of readers are now out of print, censored or too scholarly (for the lack of a better word) for the modern reader. So what will happen to the towering libraries, or the dream of having such an amazing library? Will they one day be gone like other coveted “things” our parents and their parents cherished? I hope not.

I have hope however… I have hope that parents that once dreamed of sky-high libraries will share their love of books with their children, and they with their children. I have hope that they will step up and fight for books, actual books that you can feel and smell, to remain in our schools, homes, and yes, even the public libraries. And why do I have hope? Because yesterday my 8 month old grandson, Ronan Gunnar Smith, sat in his baby boppy, pacifier in his mouth, reading his hard-backed baby book, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and loving every minute of it. If he isn’t hope for the future then what is?