Library Adventures Then and Now

As we recognize National Friends of Libraries Week (Oct.19-25), one of our members shares her childhood reading experiences and the impact libraries had on her then and now.

The first place my parents took me as a fresh September baby was the library.

Chavala then, aged 4 or 5 with a book on her lap and toy buddies for company.

Even before meeting my maternal great-grandmother, I met my local librarians: Carol and the two Lindas. They greeted me in a small, brick building behind the two-bay fire station in the small Michigan township where I grew up. A year later, I sat on my dad’s shoulders at the dedication of the new library, a quiet oasis of red, stained wooden shelves lined with books I would soon voraciously indulge in.

 We grew up together — the library and I — from board books to Patricia Polacco and Eric Carle, then Choose Your Own Adventure and Dear America. When I got a bunny named Spottie for my seventh birthday, the library taught me how to care for her. Nestled among the book stacks, I stood on the battlefields of the Civil War, walked in my great-grandparents' steps through Ellis Island, and wept for the Trail of Tears.

Chavala now, still with a book in her lap.

The library raised me well, teaching me how to build miniature doll houses and LEGO creatures. It’s where I checked out sheet music and chord books, teaching myself how to play piano, guitar, and ukulele. When I wanted to learn how to bake, I found a recipe for sugarless pumpkin pie in American Girl Doll Felicity’s Cookbook and fed it to my dismayed family.

Libraries mean more to me than just books. I had my first crush between the shelves. I wrote my first email sitting at the old computers when we didn’t have the internet. I raced my brother to be the first to finish the Summer Reading Challenge every single year. And when I turned 16, the librarians hired me for my first job.

We grew up together, the library and I, and when it was facing closure because of censorship and defunding, I was there to fight for the right of libraries to remain uncensored and free to all. I wouldn’t be the person I am today without that refuge of books and community that accepted me just as I am.

— By Chavala Ymker
Member
Friends of the Edgewater Library

Bottom photo | Chavala is holding Thunder Cake by Patricia Palacco

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