Hot Summer Entertainment

In my very early years, there were no libraries around. To tell the truth, children's books weren't exactly thick on the ground in back-water Arizona. My parents provided a reading library for me--seventeen books in a set of a collection of children's stories. There were adventure stories and science fiction, mystery and poetry. It was a marvelous introduction to reading and I still own that set of books--and read them.

Then after my mother died and we moved to Indiana, I discovered the book mobile (or as our British friends call it, the mobile library). I loved it. As a lonely grieving girl I found the solace of books very comforting. I used to read under the covers at night with a flashlight.

From then on I was a voracious reader. One of my cousins had a bookcase FULL of Hardy Boys and Tom Swift. I devoured them, sometimes three and four at a time when I went to visit. Always a speedy reader, one or two books was never enough for me.

Once we moved to Chicago, I lived at the local library. In very short order I read all of Victoria Holt, Mary Stewart, John Irving, every mystery I could locate and all the autobiographies the librarian could order for me.

During my teen years (actually, the entire time I lived at home) we did not own a television. The little television I watched was at friends or relatives' homes. No, reading was my entertainment of choice. We didn't have air conditioning, so I packed my bag of books and a blanket and went to the local park where I kept a weather eye on my brothers while reading in the shade. Chicago summers were never cool in my memories, but the scent of fresh cut grass and the welcome shade of gently swaying trees made my summers bearable.

Sadly, most kids today miss that. They watch television or play video games or text their friends instead of daydreaming beneath a shade tree or getting lost between the pages of a book. I don't envy them. If I had it to do over, I would still take my summer over theirs.

And yes, I still read. Everyday.

Anny