The Library is a Safe Place
March 27, 2023 8:12 AM Subscribe
The White Mountains was also handed to me by a children's librarian. I had fled on my bike (with streamers) to Toronto's Main Street library around lunch on a Saturday that my mother had spent the morning in a rage. The children's librarian pulled it out of the stacks and I went around the corner and sat in the Kimberly school playground and devoured it, then went back to the library to take out The City of Gold and Lead before going home. I remember because I was in so much trouble for vanishing during house cleaning day, but it was completely worth it.
In fact, my third grade teacher regularly called me “Wil the Pill” in front of the class, because putting a target on a scared kid and giving the green light to bullies was all the rage in 1980.
So true man.
Libraries are always worth fighting for.
Thanks so much for posting this.
posted by warriorqueen at 8:41 AM on March 27, 2023 [46 favorites]
In fact, my third grade teacher regularly called me “Wil the Pill” in front of the class, because putting a target on a scared kid and giving the green light to bullies was all the rage in 1980.
So true man.
Libraries are always worth fighting for.
Thanks so much for posting this.
posted by warriorqueen at 8:41 AM on March 27, 2023 [46 favorites]
This was great; thank you for posting it.
Wil Wheaton is the kind of person who gives me hope for humanity.
posted by suelac at 9:32 AM on March 27, 2023 [20 favorites]
Wil Wheaton is the kind of person who gives me hope for humanity.
posted by suelac at 9:32 AM on March 27, 2023 [20 favorites]
I was a feral child raised by books.
Spain wasn't a great place to find books in English, so I was limited for a long time to whatever Enid Blyton books were available from the local English language bookstore. But then we ended up in Cork when I was like, eleven, and I managed to take the bus into the city and find the library there. I took out stacks and stacks of books, and ended up going through every juvenile science fiction book there was until the librarian finally gave me an adult library card, which is how I came to read Stanislaw Lem before I hit puberty.
And yes, the books I read gave me vital information about things like being an adult and being a good person which I wasn't getting in my actual environment. And yes, they eventually gave me the courage to leave, to get away from the abuse, to recognize that the abuse was wrong in the first place.
But the books rubbed off on me in ways I'm still dealing with today. I'm still a little fictional around the edges. The books were a coping mechanism, a way to escape from the hell that was my reality growing up, and they worked, they kept me alive. I still go back to reading enormous amounts in times of great stress. It's just that sometimes I find myself deeply disappointed that the world doesn't work the way it does in books, you know? I find myself nostalgic, not for a home or for parents who cared, but for the way things work out when there's an author looking out for you, when there's a plot you can follow and a lesson you can learn.
I grew up in fictional worlds, so the real one is always just a little bit disappointing.
posted by MrVisible at 10:16 AM on March 27, 2023 [109 favorites]
Spain wasn't a great place to find books in English, so I was limited for a long time to whatever Enid Blyton books were available from the local English language bookstore. But then we ended up in Cork when I was like, eleven, and I managed to take the bus into the city and find the library there. I took out stacks and stacks of books, and ended up going through every juvenile science fiction book there was until the librarian finally gave me an adult library card, which is how I came to read Stanislaw Lem before I hit puberty.
And yes, the books I read gave me vital information about things like being an adult and being a good person which I wasn't getting in my actual environment. And yes, they eventually gave me the courage to leave, to get away from the abuse, to recognize that the abuse was wrong in the first place.
But the books rubbed off on me in ways I'm still dealing with today. I'm still a little fictional around the edges. The books were a coping mechanism, a way to escape from the hell that was my reality growing up, and they worked, they kept me alive. I still go back to reading enormous amounts in times of great stress. It's just that sometimes I find myself deeply disappointed that the world doesn't work the way it does in books, you know? I find myself nostalgic, not for a home or for parents who cared, but for the way things work out when there's an author looking out for you, when there's a plot you can follow and a lesson you can learn.
I grew up in fictional worlds, so the real one is always just a little bit disappointing.
posted by MrVisible at 10:16 AM on March 27, 2023 [109 favorites]
“I think you would like science fiction,” she said, in a tone that was both reassuring and uplifting. She pulled a book off the shelf called Z for Zachariah. I can still hear her describe it to me: “There is a nuclear war, and a girl who lives in a little valley with her dad and brother is safe from the fallout because of the wind. One day, the two of them leave the valley to search for other survivors, and they never come back. A year later, she sees smoke on the horizon.”
They just know, you know?
I'll never forget the librarian who told me, "I think you'll really like these," and loaded up my arms with all of the Daniel Pinkwater books they had on the shelf. The book that was on top of the pile was The Magic Moscow, or maybe The Slaves of Spiegel. It was one of the Magic Moscow books anyway.
But I still remember her description of it, in the same way Wheaton does. As she put it: "The Magic Moscow is kind of like McDonald's, but the food is really weird, and really bad."
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:21 AM on March 27, 2023 [19 favorites]
They just know, you know?
I'll never forget the librarian who told me, "I think you'll really like these," and loaded up my arms with all of the Daniel Pinkwater books they had on the shelf. The book that was on top of the pile was The Magic Moscow, or maybe The Slaves of Spiegel. It was one of the Magic Moscow books anyway.
But I still remember her description of it, in the same way Wheaton does. As she put it: "The Magic Moscow is kind of like McDonald's, but the food is really weird, and really bad."
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:21 AM on March 27, 2023 [19 favorites]
The year is 2010 and I am at the very first PAX East, in the green room. It is also my first PAX. The green room is giant - almost a ballroom - filled with beanbag chairs and tables adorned with snacks and water. People in that room include Anamanaguchi, The Protomen, Jonathan Coulton and Paul & Storm. I've never been to an event like this, so everything just seems amazing. One of the things that I find amazing is the unassuming plastic tray of Costco turkey rolls, which I had never previously eaten. I find myself devouring them.
So, in walks Wil Wheaton, who saunters over to the table and asks, to nobody in particular, "So what's good?"
"THE TURKEY ROLLS," I bleat, flush with the shock of the new, "ARE GODDAMN AMAZING."
A silence fills the room as Wil casts his piercing eyes on me, his expression deadly serious, and says in the quiet but upbraiding tone of an exasperated teacher: "I've been a vegetarian for fourteen years."
I can tell from the way he says it that he has a blog where this topic has been covered in great detail. I have not read this blog, though I suspect that I may be in the minority at PAX. A beat passes.
"WELL THE VEGGIE DIP," I retort, "IS ALSO FUCKING FANTASTIC."
posted by grumpybear69 at 10:37 AM on March 27, 2023 [128 favorites]
So, in walks Wil Wheaton, who saunters over to the table and asks, to nobody in particular, "So what's good?"
"THE TURKEY ROLLS," I bleat, flush with the shock of the new, "ARE GODDAMN AMAZING."
A silence fills the room as Wil casts his piercing eyes on me, his expression deadly serious, and says in the quiet but upbraiding tone of an exasperated teacher: "I've been a vegetarian for fourteen years."
I can tell from the way he says it that he has a blog where this topic has been covered in great detail. I have not read this blog, though I suspect that I may be in the minority at PAX. A beat passes.
"WELL THE VEGGIE DIP," I retort, "IS ALSO FUCKING FANTASTIC."
posted by grumpybear69 at 10:37 AM on March 27, 2023 [128 favorites]
"WELL THE VEGGIE DIP," I retort, "IS ALSO FUCKING FANTASTIC."
I daydream about being this quick with a clever retort. Fantastic story!
posted by xedrik at 10:46 AM on March 27, 2023 [10 favorites]
I daydream about being this quick with a clever retort. Fantastic story!
posted by xedrik at 10:46 AM on March 27, 2023 [10 favorites]
That was a wonderful speech.
I didn't have a particular librarian, like Wil, but I spent as much time in libraries as I could when I was a kid.
I'm so grateful to Wil for sharing his experiences with the world, to help people better understand what some kids go through, and I'm especially grateful to him for using his powerful stories and words to stand with trans people right now, and call attention to everyone who's an early target of US authoritarian abuse.
Thank you so much for sharing this with us, jacquilynne. I'm really glad I got to read it.
posted by kristi at 11:39 AM on March 27, 2023 [7 favorites]
I didn't have a particular librarian, like Wil, but I spent as much time in libraries as I could when I was a kid.
I'm so grateful to Wil for sharing his experiences with the world, to help people better understand what some kids go through, and I'm especially grateful to him for using his powerful stories and words to stand with trans people right now, and call attention to everyone who's an early target of US authoritarian abuse.
Thank you so much for sharing this with us, jacquilynne. I'm really glad I got to read it.
posted by kristi at 11:39 AM on March 27, 2023 [7 favorites]
hard to top grumpybear69's story, but...
I remember when I was a little kid, back in the 1970s, I saw some show on PBS or something that talked about children's books. I remember them talking about some series of books about aliens that came to earth, something to do with triangles or pyramids, and that it was a trilogy. And the name of the last book sounded so cool that it burned into my memory.
I could never find it, though. Couldn't find it on shelves or in card catalogs. The shy little kid version of me would never have asked a parent, let alone a librarian, for a nerdy sci-fi book. But the memory stayed with me, came to mind many times as I grew up, and so when the internet came along I'd search for it again. But the title never came up, and I'd move on with the increasing demands of adulthood. I haven't thought of it in many years.
Until today, anyway. Skimming through the piece, Wil mentioned the Tripods -- three legs, like a triangle, or pyramid! -- and the reference to a trilogy. No kidding, my heart rate jumped. I see the name of the first book and armed with that information I immediately jumped to a search. My heart was racing.
I looked up the series... and there it was, The Tripod Trilogy. That third book? The title is "The Pool of Fire" -- and all these years, I'd been searching on "Ring of Fire." I'd misheard it or misremembered it all these years.
So, as if Wil Wheaton needed to do anything else in his life to be more awesome, add one more little thing to the list: Today he connected a grown man with a series of books he'd been searching for, for almost his entire life.
Thanks, Wil.
posted by martin q blank at 11:42 AM on March 27, 2023 [90 favorites]
I remember when I was a little kid, back in the 1970s, I saw some show on PBS or something that talked about children's books. I remember them talking about some series of books about aliens that came to earth, something to do with triangles or pyramids, and that it was a trilogy. And the name of the last book sounded so cool that it burned into my memory.
I could never find it, though. Couldn't find it on shelves or in card catalogs. The shy little kid version of me would never have asked a parent, let alone a librarian, for a nerdy sci-fi book. But the memory stayed with me, came to mind many times as I grew up, and so when the internet came along I'd search for it again. But the title never came up, and I'd move on with the increasing demands of adulthood. I haven't thought of it in many years.
Until today, anyway. Skimming through the piece, Wil mentioned the Tripods -- three legs, like a triangle, or pyramid! -- and the reference to a trilogy. No kidding, my heart rate jumped. I see the name of the first book and armed with that information I immediately jumped to a search. My heart was racing.
I looked up the series... and there it was, The Tripod Trilogy. That third book? The title is "The Pool of Fire" -- and all these years, I'd been searching on "Ring of Fire." I'd misheard it or misremembered it all these years.
So, as if Wil Wheaton needed to do anything else in his life to be more awesome, add one more little thing to the list: Today he connected a grown man with a series of books he'd been searching for, for almost his entire life.
Thanks, Wil.
posted by martin q blank at 11:42 AM on March 27, 2023 [90 favorites]
The amount of time I spent in libraries as a kid was legion. I still miss the smell of old paper and the strange world of card catalogs and microfilm/microfiche readers.
My grams was my librarian - literally - This was her library. The article is wrong about that being the village library anymore. They built a new one after my gram passed, which is the way of the world, but her building still stands. So many childhood members of heated up wet wood and books crammed into every corner of that 2 room library. The Women's Sewing Club still gives a small scholarship every year in her name.
I just remember retreating from Florida in the summer time and being greeted with stacks and stacks of Hardy Boys and Bobbsey Twins, etc.
posted by drewbage1847 at 11:51 AM on March 27, 2023 [12 favorites]
My grams was my librarian - literally - This was her library. The article is wrong about that being the village library anymore. They built a new one after my gram passed, which is the way of the world, but her building still stands. So many childhood members of heated up wet wood and books crammed into every corner of that 2 room library. The Women's Sewing Club still gives a small scholarship every year in her name.
I just remember retreating from Florida in the summer time and being greeted with stacks and stacks of Hardy Boys and Bobbsey Twins, etc.
posted by drewbage1847 at 11:51 AM on March 27, 2023 [12 favorites]
OK, now I've gone back and finished the rest of the piece and holy cow does he bring it home. Do yourself a favor and take the extra minutes to read it all the way through. And then share it with everyone you know.
posted by martin q blank at 12:20 PM on March 27, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by martin q blank at 12:20 PM on March 27, 2023 [5 favorites]
I remember the first queer character I ever read: Magic's Pawn by Mercedes Lackey had a gay teen in it. I got that book at a library book sale, in a bag with other books for a $1.
posted by Chrysopoeia at 12:56 PM on March 27, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by Chrysopoeia at 12:56 PM on March 27, 2023 [5 favorites]
Wil Wheaton and Keanu Reeves should be running the world with Katie Porter, passed down from Jimmy Carter & Dorothy Day.
We need so much more compassion and practicality, and less ideology.
posted by wenestvedt at 1:10 PM on March 27, 2023 [24 favorites]
We need so much more compassion and practicality, and less ideology.
posted by wenestvedt at 1:10 PM on March 27, 2023 [24 favorites]
They just know, you know?
We don't. Instead, public-service librarians are TRAINED IN READER'S ADVISORY. Which is a specific set of skills. That not everyone has. That are not necessarily intuitive or automatic.
Please, y'all, please please please avoid the "they're just magic!" framing of librarians and librarianship. It's extra-special not helpful right now. The jerks trying to shut libraries down paint us as witches. The journalists who cover libraries, assured that we are incomprehensible magical beings, go straight to stereotypes (as, I notice, did the very first comment in this thread -- don't do that, please, we have ENOUGH problems encouraging people of color to join this extremely white, extremely female profession).
Instead, please respect our profession-specific education and skills. Doing so might actually help us do the work that Mr. Wheaton is praising us for. Thank you.
posted by humbug at 1:23 PM on March 27, 2023 [149 favorites]
We don't. Instead, public-service librarians are TRAINED IN READER'S ADVISORY. Which is a specific set of skills. That not everyone has. That are not necessarily intuitive or automatic.
Please, y'all, please please please avoid the "they're just magic!" framing of librarians and librarianship. It's extra-special not helpful right now. The jerks trying to shut libraries down paint us as witches. The journalists who cover libraries, assured that we are incomprehensible magical beings, go straight to stereotypes (as, I notice, did the very first comment in this thread -- don't do that, please, we have ENOUGH problems encouraging people of color to join this extremely white, extremely female profession).
Instead, please respect our profession-specific education and skills. Doing so might actually help us do the work that Mr. Wheaton is praising us for. Thank you.
posted by humbug at 1:23 PM on March 27, 2023 [149 favorites]
I'm still a little fictional around the edges.
That is an absolutely fantastic descriptive phrase!
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:25 PM on March 27, 2023 [28 favorites]
That is an absolutely fantastic descriptive phrase!
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:25 PM on March 27, 2023 [28 favorites]
The library was my sanctuary growing up in a little southern town amongst God's people. My family was one of the few Catholic ones in town, so it didn't really matter what books I read or the disapproval I got because I was going to hell anyway. I never dressed right, liked looking for salamanders in the creek, and frequently was scolded by adults for climbing trees. But I loved books and the library was my main source, especially during the summers when I would otherwise be trapped in my no sidewalks, middle-of-nowhere neighborhood while my parents were at work.
I recently looked up the Clayton County Headquarters library to make sure that it was still standing. It was completed in 1988 and has a delightful black and white motif like composition notebooks. To me it was like a temple of reading with huge ceilings and little sanctuaries. I also loved the used book sales (amazing deals for 25 cents), the precious access to the internet in its early days, and that they would write your name on the wall with the number of books you read in a summer. I always wanted to have the highest number.
It recently occurred to me that I never knew a single adult growing up who made a living working with computers, let alone an actual computer programmer. But it never occurred to me until well into my career because books like Microserfs and Cryptonomicon made it feel like I knew all about the industry my whole life.
My daughter is now old enough to walk to the next neighborhood to hang out in the library with her friends, all of whom walk over from their neighborhoods. It's the one free indoor place that the kids have access to without an adult. This is exactly what I wanted for her (and something I would have killed for as a teen), so we're really lucky that we have such a wonderful resource so close.
Libraries are the best!
posted by Alison at 1:31 PM on March 27, 2023 [16 favorites]
I recently looked up the Clayton County Headquarters library to make sure that it was still standing. It was completed in 1988 and has a delightful black and white motif like composition notebooks. To me it was like a temple of reading with huge ceilings and little sanctuaries. I also loved the used book sales (amazing deals for 25 cents), the precious access to the internet in its early days, and that they would write your name on the wall with the number of books you read in a summer. I always wanted to have the highest number.
It recently occurred to me that I never knew a single adult growing up who made a living working with computers, let alone an actual computer programmer. But it never occurred to me until well into my career because books like Microserfs and Cryptonomicon made it feel like I knew all about the industry my whole life.
My daughter is now old enough to walk to the next neighborhood to hang out in the library with her friends, all of whom walk over from their neighborhoods. It's the one free indoor place that the kids have access to without an adult. This is exactly what I wanted for her (and something I would have killed for as a teen), so we're really lucky that we have such a wonderful resource so close.
Libraries are the best!
posted by Alison at 1:31 PM on March 27, 2023 [16 favorites]
I remember the first queer character I ever read: Magic's Pawn by Mercedes Lackey had a gay teen in it. I got that book at a library book sale, in a bag with other books for a $1.
A little off-topic, but I recently went back to a few Mercedes Lackey books, and her work really holds up in a way that most of my other sci-fi/fantasy faves of that era don't so much. Characterization-wise at least.
Wil is great, and this speech is great, and librarians and libraries are great. We just moved, and I miss our old library, but I'm looking forward to getting to know the ones here, too.
posted by solotoro at 1:31 PM on March 27, 2023 [2 favorites]
A little off-topic, but I recently went back to a few Mercedes Lackey books, and her work really holds up in a way that most of my other sci-fi/fantasy faves of that era don't so much. Characterization-wise at least.
Wil is great, and this speech is great, and librarians and libraries are great. We just moved, and I miss our old library, but I'm looking forward to getting to know the ones here, too.
posted by solotoro at 1:31 PM on March 27, 2023 [2 favorites]
Nostalgia Alert: If you are of a certain age, you may remember the comic strip adaptation of the Tripods trilogy from Boys' Life magazine:
posted by The Tensor at 1:32 PM on March 27, 2023 [15 favorites]
Turning 10 was a watershed milestone for me because on US Military bases, you were required to get your own ID card when you turned 10. Looking back, that is a fairly dystopian concept, but at the time, all that mattered to me was that I could go to the library without my parents and hit the convenience store without my parents. I would never want for books, Doritos, or Pepsi again!
*My parents never censored what I read. I just could go whenever I wanted now as it was within bicycling distance.
posted by COD at 1:45 PM on March 27, 2023 [12 favorites]
*My parents never censored what I read. I just could go whenever I wanted now as it was within bicycling distance.
posted by COD at 1:45 PM on March 27, 2023 [12 favorites]
Wil Wheaton once very graciously agreed to be a Returner (zombie, but smart) in a comic I wrote back when I thought I could make a go of it writing comics, and would have a lifetime pass just for that, but his mensch spiral seems to continue circling ever upward, which is wonderful.
posted by Shepherd at 1:55 PM on March 27, 2023 [14 favorites]
posted by Shepherd at 1:55 PM on March 27, 2023 [14 favorites]
I looked up the series... and there it was, The Tripod Trilogy. That third book? The title is "Lake of Fire"
posted by martin q blank at 1:42 PM on March 27
Amazon has it as The Pool of Fire. I'm amused to see it's #51 in Children's Dystopian Fiction Books right now - I am betting because of Wil Wheaton.
posted by joannemerriam at 1:56 PM on March 27, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by martin q blank at 1:42 PM on March 27
Amazon has it as The Pool of Fire. I'm amused to see it's #51 in Children's Dystopian Fiction Books right now - I am betting because of Wil Wheaton.
posted by joannemerriam at 1:56 PM on March 27, 2023 [4 favorites]
As a kid growing up in a bedroom community 40 minutes outside Washington, DC, we didn't have a close local library. The nearest library branch was a 30+ minute drive away - it wasn't until the early 80s that we got a branch that was close enough to bike to.
What we did have was the bookmobile, which stopped at my elementary school every other Wednesday evening (close enough to walk to!). I loved climbing up into that bus, hearing the ventilation system humming quietly, and walking down the center aisle looking for new things to read.
posted by hanov3r at 2:04 PM on March 27, 2023 [4 favorites]
What we did have was the bookmobile, which stopped at my elementary school every other Wednesday evening (close enough to walk to!). I loved climbing up into that bus, hearing the ventilation system humming quietly, and walking down the center aisle looking for new things to read.
posted by hanov3r at 2:04 PM on March 27, 2023 [4 favorites]
A very nice read - thanks! I don't recall any particular librarians from my youth, but I loved the libraries. When I was 7 years old I got a birthday present that was a wrapped library card! "Now I can take out six books of my OWN at a time??!!" I was blown away!
My mom always read to me & would drop everything & stop & say "Goodnight!" at pivotal moments. This had me reading by kindergarten & gave me a lifelong desire to "find out what happens next!"
posted by Wylie Kyoto at 2:20 PM on March 27, 2023 [11 favorites]
My mom always read to me & would drop everything & stop & say "Goodnight!" at pivotal moments. This had me reading by kindergarten & gave me a lifelong desire to "find out what happens next!"
posted by Wylie Kyoto at 2:20 PM on March 27, 2023 [11 favorites]
The difficulties of my childhood were different from Wheaton's, in my case school bullying and ostracization, but like for him the library was a haven. My grandparents lived next to a library, and I would go there every time I visited them and stock up on books. I started in the kids' section and found my way first to the detective novels and then to the science fiction and fantasy section, were I pretty much stayed for the next five years.
I was bullied first at one school, then another, and as an adult I'm all too familiar with the suicide statistics of bullied children. I really think that the escape hatch that was provided to me by the library's collection of books was what allowed me to survive, and also grow and mature.
Libraries are safe spaces, indeed.
posted by Kattullus at 2:56 PM on March 27, 2023 [12 favorites]
I was bullied first at one school, then another, and as an adult I'm all too familiar with the suicide statistics of bullied children. I really think that the escape hatch that was provided to me by the library's collection of books was what allowed me to survive, and also grow and mature.
Libraries are safe spaces, indeed.
posted by Kattullus at 2:56 PM on March 27, 2023 [12 favorites]
We don't. Instead, public-service librarians are TRAINED IN READER'S ADVISORY. Which is a specific set of skills. That not everyone has. That are not necessarily intuitive or automatic.
Absolutely.
It's become increasingly dangerous just to do exactly what that librarian did for me over 30 years ago - serve the public as skilled professionals. It's coming from all directions - higher levels of government, local library boards, and direct acts of political violence inside library branches directed at library staff. It's not just in the U.S. It's happening all over the place here in Canada, too.
You're right. People tend to wax nostalgic about formative, positive experiences with librarians in a way that erases the real education, skill, and work that creates that experience in the first place.
So let me rephrase that earlier comment:
The reason this librarian knew: she asked me a whole bunch of questions to understand what might interest me. And was extremely up to date on books for young people, particularly ones that weren't necessarily best-sellers (or would not necessarily have really broad appeal, but for the right reader be exactly the thing). She did such a great job at reader advisory in that moment that the specifics of that interaction have stuck with me for more than 30 years.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 3:01 PM on March 27, 2023 [49 favorites]
Absolutely.
It's become increasingly dangerous just to do exactly what that librarian did for me over 30 years ago - serve the public as skilled professionals. It's coming from all directions - higher levels of government, local library boards, and direct acts of political violence inside library branches directed at library staff. It's not just in the U.S. It's happening all over the place here in Canada, too.
You're right. People tend to wax nostalgic about formative, positive experiences with librarians in a way that erases the real education, skill, and work that creates that experience in the first place.
So let me rephrase that earlier comment:
The reason this librarian knew: she asked me a whole bunch of questions to understand what might interest me. And was extremely up to date on books for young people, particularly ones that weren't necessarily best-sellers (or would not necessarily have really broad appeal, but for the right reader be exactly the thing). She did such a great job at reader advisory in that moment that the specifics of that interaction have stuck with me for more than 30 years.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 3:01 PM on March 27, 2023 [49 favorites]
I spent a lot of time in libraries, and while I don't think I read the trilogy, the moment he mentioned "City of Gold and Lead" I could see the cover art and title font for all three...
posted by cheshyre at 3:04 PM on March 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by cheshyre at 3:04 PM on March 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
The "librarians are superheroes" discourse, while well-meaning, also makes it easier for more and more public services we're usually not properly trained or equipped for to be downloaded onto us.
This was a lovely essay and I enjoyed reading it, but it also made me a bit sad because as others in this thread have pointed out, libraries are often no longer the safe space they used to be and more and more they're battlefields in a culture war I fear the side I'm on is losing.
posted by The Card Cheat at 3:53 PM on March 27, 2023 [10 favorites]
This was a lovely essay and I enjoyed reading it, but it also made me a bit sad because as others in this thread have pointed out, libraries are often no longer the safe space they used to be and more and more they're battlefields in a culture war I fear the side I'm on is losing.
posted by The Card Cheat at 3:53 PM on March 27, 2023 [10 favorites]
Well, I thought this essay (reading) was just fine, given the subject matter, which holds a special place in my heart. I was feeling good about it, and about Wil Wheaton, whose postings I have read about here on the Blue many times. But, as usual, as is Metafilter, apparently I didn't read ALL of his postings from ever and extrapolate/understand every last word, and realize that he is secretly a not-good person. I guess people can't grow and learn to be better as they move through life.
I've come to realize that I just need to stick with the music posts from here on out.
posted by sundrop at 4:44 PM on March 27, 2023 [4 favorites]
I've come to realize that I just need to stick with the music posts from here on out.
posted by sundrop at 4:44 PM on March 27, 2023 [4 favorites]
sundrop, I think praemunire’s last comment was more a comment on Metafilter itself. If you read the linked thread, you’ll see that she held a compatible view on Wheaton to your own.
posted by Comet Bug at 6:07 PM on March 27, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by Comet Bug at 6:07 PM on March 27, 2023 [3 favorites]
I volunteered to help table for my library’s summer reading program from age 12 (which was technically a year younger than they allowed volunteers, but I was a very serious and responsible 12 year old and they made an exception) to 18. This was a highlight of my childhood for many reasons, but chief among them was I could read books my mother otherwise wouldn’t let me read. We didn’t live close enough for me to walk to the library, and she never wanted to stick around for long, but on those glorious summers she’d drop me off at the library for two hours and in between stamping booklets I’d read all of the books I wasn’t allowed to bring home.
Including A Series of Unfortunate Events, which was among the early things I read that helped me realize I was being abused. This was banned in my house because it was “too depressing,” though I’m sure the children rebelling against their parents played a big role too. I suspect if those books were popular now, we’d absolutely have people trying to ban them from libraries—maybe it already has.
I need to see how I can get involved in advocacy for my local library. I utilize it extensively (and, um, “donate” a lot through late fees) but I don’t know what’s going on politically there right now. Thanks for the push.
posted by brook horse at 6:25 PM on March 27, 2023 [8 favorites]
Including A Series of Unfortunate Events, which was among the early things I read that helped me realize I was being abused. This was banned in my house because it was “too depressing,” though I’m sure the children rebelling against their parents played a big role too. I suspect if those books were popular now, we’d absolutely have people trying to ban them from libraries—maybe it already has.
I need to see how I can get involved in advocacy for my local library. I utilize it extensively (and, um, “donate” a lot through late fees) but I don’t know what’s going on politically there right now. Thanks for the push.
posted by brook horse at 6:25 PM on March 27, 2023 [8 favorites]
Great read, super post, thanks jacquilynne.
posted by hypnogogue at 7:37 PM on March 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by hypnogogue at 7:37 PM on March 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
you may remember the comic strip adaptation of the Tripods trilogy from Boys' Life magazine:
I do not, but, yo... what? that's awesome!
posted by lkc at 8:50 PM on March 27, 2023 [2 favorites]
I do not, but, yo... what? that's awesome!
posted by lkc at 8:50 PM on March 27, 2023 [2 favorites]
Anyone here recall watching the British TV adaptation?
posted by ocschwar at 9:13 PM on March 27, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by ocschwar at 9:13 PM on March 27, 2023 [3 favorites]
The amount of time I spent in libraries as a kid was legion.
The central library in my city relocated when I was about eleven. The old building was a lovely Carnegie-funded stately Gothic revival building, and despite my not having set foot in it* in closing in on fifty years, I could walk you to the children’s book section, the sf section in adult fiction, and two or three non-fiction stacks to this day.
The new building was pretty nice is an early 1980s glass sort of way. Five glorious floors of books; these days only two are still used for books, as the place discarded 85% of its holdings in the early 2000s. The main floor was the children’s section and the area for highly in-demand books (a one-week borrowing period) — now it is scores and scores of computer terminals and looks like an oversized Apple Store.
*Not totally true. The building subsequently became a family court and I accompanied my dad there once when he was going through his second costly divorce (I was 25 or 26 at the time . The hearing was held in a room exactly where the reference desk had been two decades earlier, hemmed on by partition walls that had not existed in the Before Times.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:35 PM on March 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
The central library in my city relocated when I was about eleven. The old building was a lovely Carnegie-funded stately Gothic revival building, and despite my not having set foot in it* in closing in on fifty years, I could walk you to the children’s book section, the sf section in adult fiction, and two or three non-fiction stacks to this day.
The new building was pretty nice is an early 1980s glass sort of way. Five glorious floors of books; these days only two are still used for books, as the place discarded 85% of its holdings in the early 2000s. The main floor was the children’s section and the area for highly in-demand books (a one-week borrowing period) — now it is scores and scores of computer terminals and looks like an oversized Apple Store.
*Not totally true. The building subsequently became a family court and I accompanied my dad there once when he was going through his second costly divorce (I was 25 or 26 at the time . The hearing was held in a room exactly where the reference desk had been two decades earlier, hemmed on by partition walls that had not existed in the Before Times.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:35 PM on March 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
Mod note: One removed. Not great to derail this thread topic to litigate a different post from five years ago.
posted by taz (staff) at 12:08 AM on March 28, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by taz (staff) at 12:08 AM on March 28, 2023 [3 favorites]
QFT: Whenever someone tries to ban a book, they are telling on themselves. They are confessing that they are weak, afraid, and out of control.
posted by chavenet at 3:04 AM on March 28, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by chavenet at 3:04 AM on March 28, 2023 [5 favorites]
The speech and this thread are also an argument for ALL literate adults picking up a bit of skill in children's reader advisory, so we can be of more help to the children in our lives. Including the kids who just pass through unexpectedly.
posted by brainwane at 3:14 AM on March 28, 2023 [12 favorites]
posted by brainwane at 3:14 AM on March 28, 2023 [12 favorites]
humbug: Instead, public-service librarians are TRAINED IN READER'S ADVISORY. ... Please, y'all, please please please avoid the "they're just magic!" framing of librarians and librarianship.
I hear you -- and I think that people don't consider librarians as magic, as much as they are recalling the outsize impact that books had on kids who were in a formative state, and who were maybe starved for some disinterested, positive interactions with adults.
More realistically, librarians work for not enough pay, are called upon to be hosts in many community's last Third Space, have an ever-increasing set of social services devolved onto them, and yet do so with patience and grace and skill. Like teachers, they deserve more visibility, more respect, more resources, and more money, instead of being praised for the nobility & sacrifices & whatnot.
Mind you, I am a library trustee, and halfway through last night's meeting I heard something explained by our chairperson (a librarian Herself) and by the library director that suddenly resolved a decades-long mystery (to me, anyway), and I said, "I love this job!" quite loudly. In front of the town council president, who had stopped in this month.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:03 AM on March 28, 2023 [8 favorites]
I hear you -- and I think that people don't consider librarians as magic, as much as they are recalling the outsize impact that books had on kids who were in a formative state, and who were maybe starved for some disinterested, positive interactions with adults.
More realistically, librarians work for not enough pay, are called upon to be hosts in many community's last Third Space, have an ever-increasing set of social services devolved onto them, and yet do so with patience and grace and skill. Like teachers, they deserve more visibility, more respect, more resources, and more money, instead of being praised for the nobility & sacrifices & whatnot.
Mind you, I am a library trustee, and halfway through last night's meeting I heard something explained by our chairperson (a librarian Herself) and by the library director that suddenly resolved a decades-long mystery (to me, anyway), and I said, "I love this job!" quite loudly. In front of the town council president, who had stopped in this month.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:03 AM on March 28, 2023 [8 favorites]
Amazon has it as The Pool of Fire.
yes, thanks, joannemerriam. I noticed that mistake and another after the edit window closed. and then I gave it yet another name telling my kids about this last night. apparently my brain really, really can't process the title of that book!
if the mods want to fix it so my comment doesn't mislead people, be my guest. now back to the discussion...
posted by martin q blank at 6:21 AM on March 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
yes, thanks, joannemerriam. I noticed that mistake and another after the edit window closed. and then I gave it yet another name telling my kids about this last night. apparently my brain really, really can't process the title of that book!
if the mods want to fix it so my comment doesn't mislead people, be my guest. now back to the discussion...
posted by martin q blank at 6:21 AM on March 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
Just read about this Canadian show set in a library and thought people in this thread might want to look for it. Despite the article being on CBC, the show is on CTV.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:07 AM on March 28, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by jacquilynne at 7:07 AM on March 28, 2023 [4 favorites]
Mod note: Edited martin q blanks original comment to change the title of the book to "The Pool of Fire.
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 7:09 AM on March 28, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 7:09 AM on March 28, 2023 [3 favorites]
You're very welcome, Martin!
Update: Amazon has The Pool of Fire at #32 in Children's Dystopian Fiction Books now!
posted by joannemerriam at 7:47 AM on March 28, 2023
Update: Amazon has The Pool of Fire at #32 in Children's Dystopian Fiction Books now!
posted by joannemerriam at 7:47 AM on March 28, 2023
Oooh, Shelved is by Anthony Q. Farrell, who worked on Little Mosque on the Prairie, which I LOVED. I'll have to check it out, thanks for the recommendation! ^_^
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 8:42 AM on March 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 8:42 AM on March 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
brainwane: an argument for ALL literate adults picking up a bit of skill in children's reader advisory, so we can be of more help to the children in our lives. Including the kids who just pass through unexpectedly.
Some of us might even be inclined to acquire and keep some copies of books that they themselves loved, and hand them out at appropriate times, to kids that they seem like a good fit for.
posted by Too-Ticky at 9:37 AM on March 28, 2023 [4 favorites]
Some of us might even be inclined to acquire and keep some copies of books that they themselves loved, and hand them out at appropriate times, to kids that they seem like a good fit for.
posted by Too-Ticky at 9:37 AM on March 28, 2023 [4 favorites]
Indeed, Too-Ticky, some of us have multiple copies of every Moomin book ready and waiting.
Another child raised partially by libraries here. We moved a lot and thus the libraries changed, but I still remember every single one and the moment when the librarian said, after books were taken out and read and returned and taken out and read and returned, usually in a day or two: well, I guess you can take out as many books as you want! I read fast, always have, and I just read everything I could get my hands on without stopping. And I still do.
The John Carpenter books, though, I got at a Scholastic book fair, or rather I got the first one and then I couldn't find the next two anywhere. I think I was maybe an adult by the time I finally read them. I read the first one over and over, though, and parts of it still haunt me.
posted by mygothlaundry at 9:54 AM on March 28, 2023 [4 favorites]
Another child raised partially by libraries here. We moved a lot and thus the libraries changed, but I still remember every single one and the moment when the librarian said, after books were taken out and read and returned and taken out and read and returned, usually in a day or two: well, I guess you can take out as many books as you want! I read fast, always have, and I just read everything I could get my hands on without stopping. And I still do.
The John Carpenter books, though, I got at a Scholastic book fair, or rather I got the first one and then I couldn't find the next two anywhere. I think I was maybe an adult by the time I finally read them. I read the first one over and over, though, and parts of it still haunt me.
posted by mygothlaundry at 9:54 AM on March 28, 2023 [4 favorites]
My kids are growing up in the suburbs. When they were little, we visited my parents every summer for ten days or so. A couple of these trips, my mom walked the kids over to the neighborhood branch library, and it blew their minds.
They have been to our town library all their lives, and are well-known as kids who check out a dozen books at a time, but they've never lived within walking distance of the place. The impact of the notion that you could simply stroll over and get a pile of books whenever you wanted was visible on their faces.
I didn't dare tell them that my mom, when I was little, used to give me three dimes: one for the bus ride downtown to the central library, one to ride home, and one for a phone call if Something Happened. Sometimes I walked three miles to another branch, got as many books as my green backpack would hold, then walked home again -- always reading as I went, hearing brakes and a horn about once a day as I walked into traffic reading and someone declined to run me over. This makes me sound like Grandpa Simpson, I know, but I even remember the distinct smell and soundscape of each of those libraries.
God damn I love libraries.
posted by wenestvedt at 12:17 PM on March 28, 2023 [19 favorites]
They have been to our town library all their lives, and are well-known as kids who check out a dozen books at a time, but they've never lived within walking distance of the place. The impact of the notion that you could simply stroll over and get a pile of books whenever you wanted was visible on their faces.
I didn't dare tell them that my mom, when I was little, used to give me three dimes: one for the bus ride downtown to the central library, one to ride home, and one for a phone call if Something Happened. Sometimes I walked three miles to another branch, got as many books as my green backpack would hold, then walked home again -- always reading as I went, hearing brakes and a horn about once a day as I walked into traffic reading and someone declined to run me over. This makes me sound like Grandpa Simpson, I know, but I even remember the distinct smell and soundscape of each of those libraries.
God damn I love libraries.
posted by wenestvedt at 12:17 PM on March 28, 2023 [19 favorites]
The library I remember being important to my elementary-school-aged self was the book bus that came to my school. I don't remember if it was weekly or monthly or what, but they had a sheet you could fill out in advance and buy books, and they were very inexpensive, or maybe free? I don't quite remember. I want to say we got a free book and then the others were less expensive than in a store, but I am really not sure. I do remember being very excited for that bus and very judicious with filling out the sheet.
As an aside, the whole collection is now #9 on Amazon's Children's Dystopian Fiction Books category now - I was all prepared to be excited for John Christopher but looked at his bio and he was born in April 1922, so he's probably dead, and being excited for Simon & Schuster just doesn't have the same pizzazz.
posted by joannemerriam at 3:57 PM on March 28, 2023 [4 favorites]
As an aside, the whole collection is now #9 on Amazon's Children's Dystopian Fiction Books category now - I was all prepared to be excited for John Christopher but looked at his bio and he was born in April 1922, so he's probably dead, and being excited for Simon & Schuster just doesn't have the same pizzazz.
posted by joannemerriam at 3:57 PM on March 28, 2023 [4 favorites]
And thinking about it, a place where you buy books is not a library, but I remember associating it with libraries, so maybe we had to give the books back.
posted by joannemerriam at 3:59 PM on March 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by joannemerriam at 3:59 PM on March 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
As I was leaving the library last night, a young mom was bringing in three kids. One of them was loudly saying, "We're here to each get a book. We get to keep it, right?"
...And I didn't hear how she handled it, but I wished her well.
posted by wenestvedt at 4:58 PM on March 28, 2023 [3 favorites]
...And I didn't hear how she handled it, but I wished her well.
posted by wenestvedt at 4:58 PM on March 28, 2023 [3 favorites]
I just got an email from the Friends of the San Francisco Library urging library enthusiasts to learn more about book bans and take action to protect books and libraries in the United States:
Unite Against Book Bans is the American Library Association's campaign to raise voices against book bans, including an action toolkit and a guide for voters (starting with the essential: registering to vote)
the ALA's press release reports a record number of demands to censor library materials in 2022
the ALA's Intellectual Freedom Resources page provides information and policies about protecting the rights of library users in the USA
If you'd like to show your support for the libraries and libraries that sustain our democracy, the ALA has some ideas for you.
posted by kristi at 6:05 PM on March 28, 2023 [8 favorites]
Unite Against Book Bans is the American Library Association's campaign to raise voices against book bans, including an action toolkit and a guide for voters (starting with the essential: registering to vote)
the ALA's press release reports a record number of demands to censor library materials in 2022
the ALA's Intellectual Freedom Resources page provides information and policies about protecting the rights of library users in the USA
If you'd like to show your support for the libraries and libraries that sustain our democracy, the ALA has some ideas for you.
posted by kristi at 6:05 PM on March 28, 2023 [8 favorites]
My dad was a college librarian. We lived a block from campus, roughly 2 blocks from the library. I'm told that at age 4 I went to the library on my own, got a few books, and brought them home (I didn't understand about checking them out). I suppose the folks working in the library knew who I was and probably assumed my dad was supervising. He was not aware. Now, 50+ years later, I spend a LOT of time in libraries and used book stores.
posted by neuron at 10:01 PM on March 28, 2023 [8 favorites]
posted by neuron at 10:01 PM on March 28, 2023 [8 favorites]
The South Shore Branch of the Chicago Public Library was the only sane place in pretty much the entire universe. I hope it still is.
posted by Chitownfats at 8:47 AM on March 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by Chitownfats at 8:47 AM on March 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
Some of us might even be inclined to acquire and keep some copies of books that they themselves loved, and hand them out at appropriate times, to kids that they seem like a good fit for
Someone I know gets a wide variety of books for age ranges from young child to early teen, and hands them out at Halloween instead of candy.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 9:27 PM on March 29, 2023
Someone I know gets a wide variety of books for age ranges from young child to early teen, and hands them out at Halloween instead of candy.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 9:27 PM on March 29, 2023
Prompted by this and a recent podcast urging people to reach out to mentors and other people that have ben important in once life.
I checked my old school library and it turns out that one of the librarians is still working there 20 years later.
So I just sent of a short thank you email to her =)
posted by skaggig at 12:13 AM on March 31, 2023 [5 favorites]
I checked my old school library and it turns out that one of the librarians is still working there 20 years later.
So I just sent of a short thank you email to her =)
posted by skaggig at 12:13 AM on March 31, 2023 [5 favorites]
After I got expelled for the third time from as many schools in the second grade due to a misunderstanding about rules when debating teachers (I thought big was to first blood), my parents gave up and put me in this hippy alternative school half
populated by rejects from the traditional system.
The school had a deal with the city and we had a smallish public library attached to the school. Not a school library, a proper public library open to the public. I got in so many fewer fights when I could just ask for permission to go to the library to do some research. I guess the teachers figured out it was easier to send me to the library than deal with me in the classroom.
I went through all the age appropriate books in three months. I had trouble speaking to adults (unless it was to first blood), but the librarian noticed something and started leaving books on my desk when I was reading comics. Between 3rd and 8th grade I read tons of classic SF, Latin American literature, a whole enciclopedia, science books, history and biographies… I miss that library and how I felt in there. Quiet, safe, taken seriously, with so many worlds and so much knowledge at mi fingertips.
We used to spend summers at my grandmothers in a small town in Jalisco. It was fun riding bikes for miles with my cousins, hunting with slingshots, skinny dipping in irrigation channels, building fires…. When that got too loud I would go to the tiny public library, a room in the Ayuntamiento across the main square from the church, and read for hours and hours.
The dark cloud in these sunny summer days what my grandma’s tule that we had to attend mass everyday, twice on Sunday. You missed mass, you were grounded for the evening and all next day. One weekday I was deep into a book on agricultural irrigation systems design wbehen I realized I was late for mass, very late.
I must have been panicking out loud. The librarian pointed at the libraries Bible and at the book, can’t remember the name, that has the schedule for all the sermons for the year.
I read and memorized the relevant stuff, met my grandma outside the church and told her I had gone to mass earlier. She started questioning me about what the priest had said, and I have a beautiful rendition of the mustard seed parable. She was beaming.
And that is how libraries saved me from having to attend mass every summer from then on.
posted by Dr. Curare at 8:11 AM on March 31, 2023 [12 favorites]
populated by rejects from the traditional system.
The school had a deal with the city and we had a smallish public library attached to the school. Not a school library, a proper public library open to the public. I got in so many fewer fights when I could just ask for permission to go to the library to do some research. I guess the teachers figured out it was easier to send me to the library than deal with me in the classroom.
I went through all the age appropriate books in three months. I had trouble speaking to adults (unless it was to first blood), but the librarian noticed something and started leaving books on my desk when I was reading comics. Between 3rd and 8th grade I read tons of classic SF, Latin American literature, a whole enciclopedia, science books, history and biographies… I miss that library and how I felt in there. Quiet, safe, taken seriously, with so many worlds and so much knowledge at mi fingertips.
We used to spend summers at my grandmothers in a small town in Jalisco. It was fun riding bikes for miles with my cousins, hunting with slingshots, skinny dipping in irrigation channels, building fires…. When that got too loud I would go to the tiny public library, a room in the Ayuntamiento across the main square from the church, and read for hours and hours.
The dark cloud in these sunny summer days what my grandma’s tule that we had to attend mass everyday, twice on Sunday. You missed mass, you were grounded for the evening and all next day. One weekday I was deep into a book on agricultural irrigation systems design wbehen I realized I was late for mass, very late.
I must have been panicking out loud. The librarian pointed at the libraries Bible and at the book, can’t remember the name, that has the schedule for all the sermons for the year.
I read and memorized the relevant stuff, met my grandma outside the church and told her I had gone to mass earlier. She started questioning me about what the priest had said, and I have a beautiful rendition of the mustard seed parable. She was beaming.
And that is how libraries saved me from having to attend mass every summer from then on.
posted by Dr. Curare at 8:11 AM on March 31, 2023 [12 favorites]
Late to this thread but Wil’s library in Tujunga has been my library from childhood, as well. I too fondly remember Mrs. Shumberger :)
Tujunga is a weird and wonderful neighborhood of LA city, with the occasional Hollywood glamour sparkling among its canyons dotted with coast live oaks and sycamores. In middle school (early 1980s) I not only briefly dated a girl who was a schoolmate of Wil’s (leading to a single snarky phone conversation with the as-yet-unknown child actor), but for a few weeks our school (Mount Gleason Jr. High) was home to Ke Huy Quan, right before his Temple of Doom debut. (He summarily appointed me — a weedy nerd who could have stood in for the Waldo character in Van Halen’s “Hot for Teacher” video — his bodyguard in PE class, before quietly disappearing post-fame to what I can only assume were fancier pastures 🤣)
posted by retronic at 2:45 PM on April 1, 2023 [3 favorites]
Tujunga is a weird and wonderful neighborhood of LA city, with the occasional Hollywood glamour sparkling among its canyons dotted with coast live oaks and sycamores. In middle school (early 1980s) I not only briefly dated a girl who was a schoolmate of Wil’s (leading to a single snarky phone conversation with the as-yet-unknown child actor), but for a few weeks our school (Mount Gleason Jr. High) was home to Ke Huy Quan, right before his Temple of Doom debut. (He summarily appointed me — a weedy nerd who could have stood in for the Waldo character in Van Halen’s “Hot for Teacher” video — his bodyguard in PE class, before quietly disappearing post-fame to what I can only assume were fancier pastures 🤣)
posted by retronic at 2:45 PM on April 1, 2023 [3 favorites]
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posted by jacquilynne at 8:13 AM on March 27, 2023 [17 favorites]