The Library tables were covered with stacks and stacks of books for purchase during the Malesus Elementary School Book Fair. The books were all shapes and sizes, with vivid cover graphics. The bounty was mostly hardcover, displayed on easels, shelves, and on table tops, just waiting for eager young minds to take them home and explore the new world that waited behind every page.
I can remember the smell of the ink on the pages and how the spine popped when you opened a new book for the very first time. I can remember walking along the tables and grabbing my first copy of Ludwig Bemelmans’, “Madeline”. I was mesmerized! I loved how the story was told in poetic consequences…”Madeline was in his arms, in a blanket safe and warm”.
If you’ve read any of my blog posts you’ll find a similar poetic style wrapped around much of my work as well. I love telling a story through poetry. I was spellbound at the Book Fair when I was in the Second Grade in Elementary School and I’m still drawn to books and the creative world of writing to this day.
I think the adventures of Madeline spoke to the fearless, and feisty side of my young personality. Madeline was gutsy, spunky and a bit mischievous…and so was I.
The Adventures of Pippy Longstocking, The Hardy Boys Mystery Series, and Little House on the Prairie were some of my first purchases at the Book Fair that day too. I can remember reading each book and loved being transported to a different world. I was captivated when my mind took me to places that my feet had never traveled, it was glorious!
Since that time, I’ve always enjoyed reading. I’ve also had a deep desire to write and create that same experience for others. I believe that God put the desire to write in my heart during that Book Fair some 45 years ago, and I’m still working towards that dream!
Reminiscing about that day at the Book Fair led me to do a little research on my old elementary school, so I visited their website to find that they are still encouraging young kids to read. Their studies have shown that 20 minutes of reading 4 nights a week will total over a million words read during the school year. Wow! That is a phenomenal accomplishment for grammar school children!
My Grandmother, “Miss Nina” taught Second Grade at Malesus Elementary School back in those days. My brother and sisters and I were fortunate to live next door to Grandma and right across our back lot from the school. We were blessed to be able to walk to school everyday with my Grandmother. She instilled an excitement in me and my siblings, along with all of her students, for the learning process and reading was at the top of that list. “Miss Nina” would be proud of us all!
So, I continue to read and press on toward the dream that God placed in my heart to write. I want to write a book and continue to share my struggles through poetry, articles and devotionals; in the hopes that it might lead others away from the things that caused me to stumble and lead them to the abundant life in Christ Jesus. I’m not there yet, but I continue to press on and I’m excited to see where God will take me on this journey!
Is there a dream in your heart? Are you working diligently to see it come to fruition? It was placed there by God you know. Pray about it and ask for His guidance. I promise He will see you through to completion.
Philippians 3:13-14 – Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
