How the Library Influenced Your Life

The Makings of an Obsessed Story Teller

By Karean Williams

In the early 1950s, when I was a six grader, Andrew Carnegie’s libraries were as prominent in the communities of Western Pennsylvania as the corner convenience stores are today. I grew up in a village called Woods Run. Because Woods Run Elementary only went to the third grade from the fourth to the sixth grade I had to walk almost two miles to Halls Grove Elementary which every one called Halls Grove. My homeroom teacher Mrs. Fassel a kindly lady, who never seemed ruffled by the antics of the sixth graders, was the school’s librarian too.

One afternoon after recess, as she hummed quietly to herself, she drew the shades at the large windows, the ambience of the room changed to a warm amber hue. Then, she slowly walked to the bookshelves. My eyes followed her as she ran her fingers over the books as though looking for just the right one. "Bingo!" -- When she happened upon the exact book; then, she removed it from the shelf. As she walked slowly back to her desk, she leafed through the pages. She settled in her chair, adjusted her eyeglasses, and seemed to prepare to tell us a secret. What she did next caused my young mind to take off to another dimension which released a sense of excitement that has never left me. "Today," she announced, "I am going to read Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain." After that afternoon, I never missed another day of school. I could not wait to get to school, lunch, recess, and Tom Sawyer. My mind would float away to the warm sunny days of Tom and Huck’s antics in Hannibal, Missouri. I would dream about them when I slept. And, if given a quiet moment, I would daydream about them too.

To make matters worse, when she finished the Mark Twain stories, she started to read Greek and Norse mythology. She made the gods Thor, Odin and Loki seem so big, real and alive. To this day the sound of thunder and lightning scares me to death. I still imagine the gods are fighting with each other as they throw bolts of ligtning just to keep us earthlings humble. Needless to say, I was totally obesssed with the stories and addicted to her ways of reading--weak to the knees.

Then one day, after she had gotten me addicted to her reading ways. She stopped just like she had started--abruptly. It seemed as though I was the only one who started to whine in the class because I was so addicted to her voice and the stories she loved to read. Bluntly, she told me, "Get a book and read quietly to yourself!" I simply stood in front of the bookcase, and starred at the books, and pouted in defiance; I was weaned to quickly. Finally, she put her hand on my shoulder and led me to the plays. Then, "You might like this," she mused as she handed me a play and purposefully walked away. She left me holding a book that felt so heavy, and it, along with my heavy dejected heart, caused my body to slump like Quasimodo’s. I don’t remember the play, but I was quickly addicted again, this time to the images that played on the stage in my head. At first, I read the book, laboriously. Then, Bang!-- I was hooked again. I could not put the plays down. I read every one in her library and thristed for more. I could not get enough of the images that played out their tales in my head. Lastly, she enticed me with Homer and the Greek tragedies I was totally smitten.

Then one day, Mrs. Fassel told the class, "Today, we are going for a walk." To my surprise, when we crossed Brighton Road and entered a little yellow brick building, it was the Woods Run Public Library. The librarians who worked there gave each of the kids an orange library card. Oh, I thought I had hit the "Irish Lottery." I could not believe that I could just flash my card and get a book--for free. I was so proud of my library card I would flash it every where as though I was the only one in the world with a orange library card--although every one I knew had one. I must have been really obnoxious because my mother had to tone down my library card enthusiasm.

Now I know that because of Mrs. Fassel’s reading ways, firm hand and sense of a child’s innate talents along with a host of librarians who have traipsed through my life. They have all inspired me to be the college teacher and story teller I am today. Karean