GradeSchool Grammars...

I went to small Catholic schools all my life, until College. And I do mean small. The school I went to for grades K-3 actually closed down because of low enrollment, then I switched to another for 4-8, but that school had 0 funds. Most of the kids were there on some form of scholarship or the nuns and Church helped to pay their way. That school actually closed down a year ago because they were so in the hole, as far as funding goes. Then my first year of high school I went to a very small Catholic prep school. Total enrollment, grades 9-12:60. Yup. They closed down too. I finally finished up high school for grades 10-12 at a larger (156 grades 9-12) all girls school. Needles to say, I've had some pretty interesting experiences.

My elementary schools were both made up primarily of lower-middle class folks. The first one, was really diverse in terms of color, but the second was all black with the exception of 3-5 white kids who were there. Some of my fondest memories from both those schools had nothing to do with the kids, I really didn't have any friends. But the libraries were amazing for me.

At the first school, we'll call it Divine Mother K-8, there was a huge library that took up most of the second floor. In the early days of the school, there was money and funding, but as the neighborhood broke down and people starting moving to the suburbs and sending their kids to school out there, the school changed too. But this library was amazing. I remember the checker-boxed floor, it was always cold. There were radiators that heated the building, but anyone who has had the experience of a radiator heated building/house/apartment knows that you are only warm if you are within two feet of the thing. In the summer, the library was hot, with an old air conditioner trying its best to push cool air out into the large room. There were book shelves that lined all of the walls. In the center there was a large old colorful carpet and rocking chair. The chair was were the librarian would sit to read to us. She was the stereotypical librarian, short, chunky, thick hair cut short but still out of control, and glasses so thick you could barely see her eyes.
We went to the library as a class once a week, but were able to go more often if we wanted. I adored reading. I mean adored. My grandmother taught me to read when I was about 3 years old and it was like starting a fire in a woods full of dry brush. The most exciting thing about trips to the library was the independence you felt. As a kid there are very few choices you get to make for yourself, but in this place, this space, I was allowed to choose any book I wanted. I read everything from astronomy to mysteries to history. I loved learning about space and I really enjoyed Hellen Keller's biography and the Nancy Drew series. When that school closed down at the end of my 3rd grade year, the librarian told me that I'd read the equivalent to all the books on two of the largest walls.

At my next school the library was much smaller. About the size of a large master bedroom, the walls were full of books and in the center of the room there were about 2 or 3 computers. That school, we'll call St. Augustine's sufferred greatly when it came to finding ways to gain money. There were rarely new books, and many of the ones we had were so old. By the time I graduated, four years, I'd read every book in that library, including the ones for the younger kids because I would read to them in their classrooms. By this time I'd also discovered book stores and the thrift store. My mom and I would go to the Goodwill on the weekends and for five bucks I could load up. Thats where I discovered Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and S.E. Hinton's That was Then, This is Now. I also read your typical pre-teen girly books, the Sweet Valley Twins series and the Babysitter Club books, but I always came back to the more serious ones, the ones that would make me cry or shiver because I could feel what the characters were going through.

In high school I was fortunate to have great English teachers, so while we read the traditional Chaucer, Shakespeare, Hemingway, we were also introduced to really good contemporary writers as well (Sherri Reynolds and Jane Smiley to name a few). My favorite book from high school would have to be Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. I think it was the layers, the way Conrad was able to have his character move deep into the Congo and not only change the scenery, but the way the character was seeing and how we as readers saw him. It was also my first introduction to African history. Or I guess, questioning the history I was being taught and read about.

In college I of course became an English major, but my reading was actually stifled during that time period. There were more choices, a larger library, the ability to check out as many books as I wanted, but there wasn't that same sense of freedom that I felt back in 3rd grade. I no longer felt like I could wander into the science section, or history. I stayed in the literature section and read only what my teachers told me, or what I thought I was supposed to read.

Here lately though, I've been reading like a 3rd grader again. When I wonder around in the book store I try to hit all the sections, not just fiction or Oprah's choices. We should all read like 3rd graders.