I love books and collect them like some folks collect pennies in a jar. Today, my personal library contains 100s of books: over 300 children’s books alone, and that doesn’t include my Young Adult novels.
When we were kids, my mother took us to the public library frequently. My heart still races with remembered anticipation when I think back to those special days. All those books! Shelf upon shelf, row after row, one room then another. Heaven on earth.
Indeed, while some kids played princesses and others played pirates, I played librarian (when I wasn’t playing student to my sister the teacher . . . but that’s another story). I loved libraries so much, that once, I had my very own Library-in-a-Box. I remember it vividly.
The Origin of the Library-in-a-Box
It was 1970-something when the magic happened. “Wow! That is so cool!” I said as my parents unveiled it. I could not believe something so completely wonderful, had landed at our little house. After all, Daddy was a Baptist preacher, and Mother just worked part-time as a substitute teacher. Where did we get a treasure of this magnitude?
“You like it?” My parents beamed at the new sleeper sofa they had purchased for our family room.
“I love it! Do we get to keep it?” My 10 year old mind stirred with plans for our new addition.
Library-in-a-Box Blueprints
“Well, of course we. . .” my mother turned to face me, and saw I was not looking at the sofa. She started backtracking. “We are going to keep the sofa, is that what you mean?”
It wasn’t. Forget the sofa. I wanted the box. It was huge. It had walls. It had a floor, a ceiling. It was big enough for at least five kids. I could see it already. The circulation desk would be at the entrance to the box. I could draw shelves on the floor and use bookends to hold the books in place. I would track usage of books using note cards and I would assign each of my friends a library card. It would be perfect.
Short-lived but well-loved
Mother could not refuse and I got to keep my cardboard library. To my surprise, the neighborhood children were not nearly as excited as I was about my library. Thus, circulation numbers remained manageable. The lack of community involvement didn’t bother me too much though. It was my very own library and I loved it. And hey! It came with a sleeper sofa.
