Even before I could read, I loved books. I remember sitting in a corner looking at picture books. The beautiful illustrations drew me into the story. At that point in my life, words didn't matter. I made up stories by looking at the illustrations.
As I got older, I dreamed of reading the words printed on the pages of those books. As soon as I went to school, I begged my parents to buy me books for Christmas and birthdays. I asked the Easter Rabbit for books and wished the tooth fairy would leave me books instead of money.
As soon as I learned to read, I devoured (quickly read) every book I could lay my hands on. Each time I got a new book, I'd spend the day lying on my bed reading and crunching delicious apples.
When I got older, Grandma bought me a Nancy Drew book for Christmas each year. I loved going with Nancy, Beth and George on adventures and collecting clues to solve the mystery. Yes, Nancy was very popular in the 1950's. My favorites were The Secret in the Old Attic and The Mystery of the Tolling Bell. I read them over and over. The pages were dog-earred and worn.
I had all fifty of the original titles. Unfortunately, they were destroyed in later years when Mom's basement flooded. I would love to have those books today. I miss them. The Nancy Drew books of today just aren't the same as they were back then. Those books had hard covers. The originals had a blue cover with a girl looking through a magnifying glass etched on the cover. Later, the books were hard covers with bright images on them.
Grandma and Dad were readers. I think Grandma was a writer too, but the only thing she ever wrote was letters. But oh, a letter from Grandma was a treat. Her descriptions of the things that happened on the farm made me feel as if I were right there beside her.
Reading was important to me as a child and is still important to me now. I can leave this world and go anywhere in the Universe between the covers of a good book. I've traveled to far away lands, panned gold in the Old West, visited the Mississippi River in Tom Sawyer, freed slaves with Harriet Tubman and sailed the ocean with explorers such as Lewis and Clarke and Sir Francis Drake.
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