Reading Is my passion. I cannot imagine life without a book by my bedside, magazines by my chair and my IPad with its digital books with me when I travel. If I love to read, then my Mom needs all the compliments. She was an elementary school teacher, who believed books and reading were the best gift to give to a child.
Mom taught fourth grade for most of her over 30 years teaching career. She taught as a young woman after college, while my Dad was in Korea. Then stayed home with three young children. She started back to full-time teaching when my sister was in first grade. From then on, Mom’s life was split between us and her students.
Each summer when she went shopping for our school supplies and clothes, she also went shopping for her classroom. It is true that teachers spend their own money for their classrooms. But this is not a new phenomenon: Mom was buying things for her classroom in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.
Throughout the year, whenever her students had a Scholastic Book order, Mom would order books for her classroom. Some were free, some she purchased. But the good part, for us, was that we got to read these books as well.
My Mom’s library system.
Mom built up quite a library in her classroom. Bringing in bookshelves from home to stash her class’ reading choices. Mom would make them as NF, non-fiction, or F, fiction. She numbered each book and wrote her name inside. Whenever the school purged old readers, my Mom would take some for her classroom as extra reading for her students.
She also would bring one of each home for me. Personally, I love old readers. Whenever Mom brought some home, I was delighted. Even when I was in college, I would curl with a reader just for fun.
When my Mom retired, I took at least one of each of the readers she still had. I even have original Dick and Jane books from 1946-47. Three to be exact. One is quite decrepit, but I do not have the heart to get rid of it. Those were actually being thrown out by the school. She asked if she could take a few for me. And the principal said yes. I still thank him, Mario, in my mind.
I know exactly which books were in my Mom’s classroom, as I still keep the numbers taped to the front of those books. Inside I see my Mom’s handwriting and I have a bit of her with me.
Some of my readers.
But my love for readers created a bit of an obsession for me as my children were growing up. I often went to garage sales to find books and toys for them to play with. Among the books, I often found readers. They were sold for anywhere from a quarter to a dollar. I then went big time: I started going to library books sales and I would pick up a few readers there. These were a bit more expensive. Then came the big book sales in the local convention center. Yes, they had readers as well. This were even more expensive … three or four dollars!
I now have over 50 early readers and other school books. My oldest school book is from 1914. Many are from the 1940s and 1950s. A few from 1960s. But I did not stop at readers, not me. I have science books, math books, language art books. I have readers that were published by the state of Kansas (where I live.)! I even have some very old story books. They are quite fun to read.
In my collection of books, I have an early Disney true life book; an early Nancy Drew; and much more. My children learned to read with these readers. Why not! My daughter was reading the early Dick and Jane books when she was not quite four. My son a bit later. Those pictures draw the children in!
I happily passed my love of reading onto my children. Each summer I would enroll them in the local library’s reading program. For every five books they read, they got a prize. If they reached a predetermined number of books, they got a really special prize. I did not have to do that for long for my daughter. She is an avid reader. She learned to read before she even went to kindergarten. It caused a few problems because her ability to read was a much higher than her maturity.
I have some favorite reading memories. She loved this scary series, Goosebumps. One night she was reading a book in bed, way past her bed time. I guess a thunderstorm was going on in the book, when a thunderstorm started in real life. She threw the book across the room as she screamed in fright. We loved that. Her favorite book for the longest time was Pippi Longstocking. My husband actually hid it. Many years later, when she was in college, we were cleaning bookshelves, my daughter found the book. She knew instantly that he had hid it, as it was very high on a shelf.
In fact, in seventh grade, when the English teacher started a reading contest, my daughter blew everyone away. I don’t remember how many books she read, but her list was extensive. The teacher even called me into the room to make sure my daughter was really reading that much. I realized she was not even telling the teacher about all the books she read!
My son was not as avid a reader as my daughter. He has some dyslexia. However, he also loved reading from my collection. He loved the stories about the Spot and Puff. He moved on slowly to riddle and joke books, then to the Bailey School Kids books. He loved these. His memorable moment was actually meeting the co-author Debbie Dadey and having books signed by her.
He moved on to more ‘boy’ books with time. Animorphs were a favorite. But then he focused on graphic novels: manga. The middle school librarian told me of his love, because, of course I volunteered in the school library. As I re-stacked the books, I also read. One day she informed me that I had to buy him some manga, as the school library was not carrying that many then. I am sure there are many more now than in the early 2000s.
I am so glad that my Mom was a teacher. Her love of books and learning, led to my love of books and learning. I am glad I was able to pass this joy on to my children. And whenever I want a little time reminiscing about my Mom, I just pull out a reader, settle into a chair and read.
zicharonot 
What an awesome collection! No wonder you were intrigued by Milton Goldsmith; as you will see in a couple of weeks, his younger sister Emily also wrote books for children. I have now purchased three of the books—two of Milton’s, one of Emily’s. They are all over 100 years old!
My mother has also always been a voracious reader. One of the things she is most proud of is that the first trip she took after she got her driver’s license was to the public library with her three children. We would go every week and take out books. Like you, I credit my mother with my love of reading. It is the one “habit” I have had since the age of six or seven that is still a huge part of my life.
Wonderful post, Ellen!
Thank you. Yes I love children’s books. Years ago a short story I wrote was published in a Jewish children’s magazine. It was a dream of mine to write for children. Moms make a big difference. But you are right, i was intrigued by Milton. Looking to see the post on his sister!!
Have you ever written a children’s book? You are such a marvelous storyteller—you really should if you haven’t already.
I have thought about it.
Do it!!
😊