Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Reading vs. Writing

It's such a beautiful summer day I can't help remembering being 10 or so and enrolling in a summer reading program at the Grimsby Public Library. The arrangement was that you read a book, then told a librarian about it, and she (it was always a she) gave you a bookmark. I think the library was hoping kids would read five or ten books over the summer and become good library customers.

Well, like many other nerds in the making, I made the library the cornerstone of my daily routine. I'd have breakfast and walk to the library, tell the librarian all about--and I mean, ALL about--the book I'd read the day before, get my bookmark, and head off to the stacks for that day's reading material. Then the next day I'd start all over.

It can't have been much more than a week before the librarians would see me coming, thrust a bookmark at me, and send me on my way. Anything to avoid having a breathless kid retelling a story in minute detail.

Now if only I'd used that summer to write as well as read, I could be outside right now, cutting up branches. Ooh la la!

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