I am a sucker for author success stories. You know the kind of story I mean; single mother on welfare writes bestseller at corner cafe and becomes as rich as the Queen? I find them so satisfying, better than Cinderella and her lame Prince Charming. My favorite, to date, is the story of Gary Paulsen, probably because his savior was the library. I ‘met’ Gary Paulsen when I graduated from teaching 1st grade a few years ago and wheeled my supplies to the 4th grade wing. During that summer of preparation I charged through the recommended reading list and fell in love with Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen. As an author worshipper, I imagined a distinguished man sitting in his study, green-shaded library lamp casting shadows across the bookcases while he rattled off stories of survival and adventure. Then I heard him interviewed on public radio and imagined something altogether different.
Jim Trelease (another idol of mine) has a thorough biography of Gary Paulsen, and other authors, on his website. Paulsen grew up poor and neglected as the child of alcoholic parents in Minnesota. When he was old enough, he started selling papers to earn money and one frigid night had the great fortune of taking shelter in a warm library. It was there that he met a compassionate librarian who changed his life.
Paulsen retells the story in his book Shelf Life, a collection of short stories for teens that expresses the power of books,
“I stopped in the library to warm up. The librarian noticed me, called me over, and asked if I wanted a library card and gave me a book. Later that night back at home, I took the book, a box of crackers, and a jar of grape jelly down to the basement, to a hideaway I’d created behind the furnace. I sat in the corner plodding through the book. It took me forever to read. I was such a poor reader that, by the time I’d finished a page, I’d have forgotten what I’d read on the page before and I’d have to go back.
“I stopped in the library to warm up. The librarian noticed me, called me over, and asked if I wanted a library card and gave me a book. Later that night back at home, I took the book, a box of crackers, and a jar of grape jelly down to the basement, to a hideaway I’d created behind the furnace. I sat in the corner plodding through the book. It took me forever to read. I was such a poor reader that, by the time I’d finished a page, I’d have forgotten what I’d read on the page before and I’d have to go back.
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| The current library in Thief River Falls, MN |
Paulsen returned to the library again and again for his new salvation, books. The librarian took the time to pick out books from every genre that she thought would engage him, she even talked with him about the books when he brought them back. This next quote is the part that gets me, the part that makes me hyperventilate at the thought of closing small public libraries across America...
“But she wasn’t just giving me books, she was giving me ... everything,” Paulsen writes, “ She gave me the first hint I’d ever had in my entire life that there was something other than my drunken parents screaming at each other in the kitchen. She handed me a world where I wasn't going to get beaten up by the school bullies. She showed me places where it didn’t hurt all the time. I read terribly at first but as I did more of it, the books became more a part of me and within a short time they gave me a life, a look at life outside myself that made me look forward instead of backward.”
Gary Paulsen went on to weave a fascinating life that I will continue to read and write about in future blogs. He is considered one of the most important writers for young adults and has written over 175 books, including three Newberry Honor books. When I think about the positive impact that Gary Paulsen has had on our world, and how it might never have existed, without the help of a kind librarian, I am reminded that the library is truly “a fitting temple for the great thoughts of generations” and worth every penny.
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