Better Than the Ice Cream Truck: When the Bookmobile Rolled Into Town – June Theme from Tamera Wissinger
It sounds like the start of a bad joke: The Midwestern town
where I grew up was so small…How small was it? You ask. So small there was no
library. No joke. The closest town with a library was 8 miles away, so
definitely not walking distance. I’d get there with my family occasionally, but
it wasn’t on our regular route. But every couple weeks during summer, something
magical happened that was better than the ice cream truck arriving: the
bookmobile rolled into town.
With my book bag over my shoulder and library card in hand, I
would step up onto the bus and into that wonderful mobile world of
possibilities. Maybe there was a limit to the number of books each child could
take, but in my memory the bookmobile lady encouraged me to check out as many
books as I could carry. The only catch was to return the books the next time
the bus came through.
 |
| Young reader Tamera, armed with her book bag. |
I would load up, return home, and begin working my way through
my pile of books. While the other children played outside, I spent time with
Stuart Little, Encyclopedia Brown, Katie John, Ramona the Pest, Pippi
Longstocking, the cast of Charlotte's Web, the kids from How To Eat Fried
Worms, and more in my effort to read each book before my deadline. And when the
day came, I'd load up those completed books and return them to the bookmobile
in exchange for a fresh set, and start again.
There were plenty of other excellent outdoorsy things to do
during those stretches of summer – and I did my share of them. Yet as a kid, I
could not have imagined a single summer without books and reading. Thank
goodness I didn't have to.
~~~~~
Tamera Wissinger writes stories and poetry for children
including Gone Fishing: A Novel in Verse, This Old Band, and the forthcoming
There Was An Old Lady Who Gobbled a Skink and Gone Camping: A Novel in Verse. Tamera
owes much of her success as a young reader to the lady who drove the Bookmobile
to her town and to her mom who helped her keep track of the Bookmobile schedule.
You can connect with Tamera online at her Website, on Twitter, or on Facebook.
The bookmobile visits were the highlight of my childhood summers, too! My mom would put a big red circle around the bookmobile dates on the calendar. On those mornings we would get up early and be at the school parking lot hours before the bookmobile was due to arrive. I still recall its faintly musty smell and the way the whole truck rocked gently when you stepped inside! Good memories!
ReplyDeleteNo library--ouch! I have fond memories of the bookmobile when my own library was being renovated...
ReplyDeleteI always wanted a bookmobile! What a great memory.
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