Her First Library Card

Yesterday my daughter and I decided it was about time we go do something special.  She and I have been working on reading for a while, so when I decided to get my own library card, I thought I should take her with me to get her own.

In truth, I wasn't really getting a library card so I could take out books.  I'd heard the local libraries were a complete disappointment in comparison to the grand, spacious libraries back home.  There's a Droid and iPhone app that allows you to download e-books from the local library to your phone.  They're automatically deleted on their due date so you don't get any late fees.  I thought it would be a wonderful way to expand the collection of books I've read, even though I'm not terribly fond of e-books.

My daughter isn't a strong reader by any means.  It still takes us a couple hours to get her to read one of those level three early readers.  Level four books can take even longer, like Ben Franklin and the Magic Squares.  That book has taken her a couple of hours, but at least she's digesting the content of it pretty well.  She's pretty amazed by the things Ben Franklin has invented, and that's not even all of them!

We packed ourselves up in the car and went off to the library.  On the car ride over we talked about the library.  She'd asked if we were going to the place she'd gone with Marrok, but I explained to her that was a book store.  You buy books there.  Libraries allow you to borrow books, and as long as you get them back on time, you don't have to pay anything!  She was pretty amazed.  She couldn't wait to get there and see what they had.  She was hoping they had toys, but I told her I didn't know if they would.

The first thing we did when we got there was walk up to the library desk.  One of the librarians was busy, so fittingly we went to another librarian who was very nice, helpful, and reminded me a lot of my aunt, which made me smile.  A little pang of homesickness and missing my family washed over me, but I was able to brush it aside.  We had a purpose here.  My little girl was getting her first library card!

My daughter, being who she is, asked a million questions, of course.  I asked a few questions too.  Apparently you have to be five years old to get your own library card,  My older son is almost there.  We were each allowed to borrow three things for this visit, but next time we'll be able to take out ten.  Fittingly we went to the branch that was more of a children's library, so we really felt like we'd found the right place.

When we were done, my daughter wanted to look around.  There were stained glass windows on the wall to some partitioned room that looked like an office.  My daughter wanted to look at all the pictures in the stained glass.  She was amused to see some familiar video game characters in one frame, and a dragon and knights in another.  Then we looked at the movies, saw the audio books, and went by each shelf of books talking about the labels on the ends.

Finally, we settled into the books themselves.  We decided to start with some books that would expand on her homeschooling experience.  I figured we'd pick one or two educational books and then get something fun.  Of course, my daughter had other ideas.  Once she'd started looking, she'd picked out too many books and had the hard task of deciding which books she wanted to take now, and which she would save for next time.  She'd pulled out three books on history, two on Halloween, a book on Columbus Day, and a book on green activities for kids to save the environment.  We decided that we would have to come pick books for every holiday.  There were tons of books on Christmas, so  we'll have tons of books to read come Christmas time!  There's books on holiday traditions in a huge number of different countries, so that sounds like it will be fun and educational.

Finally, she decided on three books.  The first one she picked was the first book she pulled off the shelf, True Green Kids: 100 Things You Can Do to Save the Planet. She's been really into environmentalism, probably a result of having a mom like me. Of the two Halloween books she decided on True Green Kids: 100 Things You Can Do to Save the Planet, which was fitting as it seems to give a pretty full history of the holiday. Lastly she decided on True Green Kids: 100 Things You Can Do to Save the Planet, which is also very fitting because Columbus Day will be here before long. Isn't it next week?

Excited at her selections, she bugged me to swiftly pick my books so we could fly home.  She couldn't wait to look at them.  Next time she's looking forward to checking out ten more, since she'll be able to check out that many on all of her following visits.  Hopefully this is the first step towards having a life-long learner!