I’m going to take another break from the current blog series to note the passing of another of the literary icons of my childhood.
When I was in seventh grade I read nothing but Brian Jacques’ Redwall books. I would finish the series and start right back at the beginning. Reading something I hadn’t read before meant getting his newest book from Gullivers, the beloved local bookstore that’s been closed for years now. I’m still sad every time I walk by it’s place in the mall–after all this time they still haven’t filled the empty space and the facade proclaims in green and gold that this was once the portal through which I discovered so many books.
In eight grade I joined the drama club at the public library. The building was undergoing historic reconstruction, so everything was in disarray and we held rehearsals in a side room which is now an art gallery. I was there every Monday afternoon as soon as choir got out.
I had always loved the library, but for me it held hundreds of movies and picture books, with a few young adult novels pursued while picking up books on tape for long car trips. The young adult section was out of the way, tucked in a corner I rarely visited. I went to the library to hang out in the children’s department, with the awesome murals and the castle and giant giraffe stuffed animal. That changed with the chaos of the renovations and my new role in drama club.
Down in the basement of the library, sitting in stacks on the floor because there was no more room on the shelves with the Library under construction, I finally found my way to young adult novels. I gave myself a challenge to read nothing but books I had never previously opened, and recorded each and every one with colored pencils on an ever growing strip of sticky notes taped up by the kitchen table.
I may have read Diana Wynn Jones before that. I have a vague memory of picking up the Chrestomanci Chronicles when the young adult section was still on the main floor, but mostly I picked them up from disorganized stacks in the basement and I loved every one of them.
She passed away this week.
Watching childhood heroes pass away is one of those things which will inevitably happen that I never believed could.
I’ll see you again soon with a happier blog post.