The book was called Sometimes I Dance Mountains, and I fell in love with children’s literature when I first opened its pages. As I mentioned in a previous post,
my mother never read books to me as a child. Trained as a high school English teacher, I was also never made aware of the thrilling world of children’s literature. When I became an elementary children’s reading specialist, I decided that I needed to self-educate about books for the younger set.
Pinocchio’s Bookstore was a magical place, and Sometimes I Dance Mountains was the first book I saw there. As a lover of dance almost as much as a lover of reading, I was intrigued by its photographs of a young girl dancing around muted rainbows. My love affair began.
Many Saturday mornings found me descending down the steps of the bookstore into a brave new world. As a beginning teacher with a small salary, I had to guard my desires because one book was more compelling than the next. At just this time, the world of children’s literature was exploding with many stimulating new books, and I wanted to share every one of them with my struggling readers. I often took notes and ordered what I could from the bookmobile that visited our area every two weeks. But often, I left with an armful of those books that I desired most.
When a Borders Bookstore was built near my home, I started visiting the children’s section on Friday nights, only occasionally making the 40-minute trip to Pinocchio’s. Same love affair, different source. Sadly, both of my favorite haunts have now closed. A new rival had appeared— Amazon. The love affair was not quite the same, though. No holding, feeling textures, reading pithy words, while gazing at the beauty of its art, and understanding the essence of its soul.
In my next post I will share my all-time favorite children’s books, and I will explain why I gave them all away.
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