The Whole Shelf

Beautiful Beverly Cleary

One of my favorite library experiences (yes, I have many) is discovering a whole shelf of books by an author I like. It happens less and less the older I get and the more I read - it’s hard to find an ‘undiscovered’ author who has written scads of books without me noticing.  

Of course, there are plenty of authors who can fill a whole bookcase with their work and continue to churn out a new one every six months, but they are usually not my cup of tea.  Two authors that have recently given me the ‘whole shelf” experience are Jan Karon and Robert B. Parker.  Jan Karon’s ‘Mitford’ series is one of my favorites, total comfort books.  Wouldn’t you love to have a Father Tim at your coffee shop?  I got a late start on the series but made up for it with reading voracity.  When I saw the Mitford books spanning the shelf at the library my heart sang - all those delicious stories to sink my teeth into, waiting there patiently to be checked out.  
Kids often have this experience as they start on their reading journey.   I remember finding the Magic Tree House section with my daughter for the first time - several shelves packed with the adventures of Jack and Annie - we filled our arms with books and headed to the check out.  

One of my favorite parts of being a teacher is helping kids fall in love with books.  It’s usually not too hard, my students often just haven’t met the right authors and once I start reading aloud from my favorite books they want more.  My best secret weapon when it comes to hooking kids on books is Beverly Cleary.  I’ve loved Cleary’s books since I was a kid, couldn’t wait to read them to my daughter (she is very Ramona-esque herself) and now read them with my 4th graders (we are in the middle of Dear Mr. Henshaw right now).  Beverly Cleary started writing books in 1950 and any library is sure to have at least one shelf of her treasures, including her series of books about Ramona and the kids on Klickitat Street.  

What I didn’t know was that Cleary began her career as a librarian in Yakima, Washington (and Yakima library began its career with a $10,ooo grant from Andrew Carnegie).  Cleary started writing her stories after spending time with kids at the library and hearing their frustration about finding books that were about real kids and that were funny.  Her very first manuscript, Henry Huggins, was accepted on its first submission and generations of children have been reading it ever since.  She went on to write more than 30 books, including her famous Ramona series.  I was even pleased to see Beezus & Ramona turned into a movie last year (typically I am wary of movie adaptations) because the attention will certainly lead more kids and parents to the full shelf experience - a simple joy in life that should not be missed.

Cooper's Tour

While I watched Cooper, the misguided Cooper’s Hawk, swoop around the rotunda at the Library of Congress, I wondered about the ethereal mural he was circling (and enjoying?).  I headed to The Library of Congress and made a plethora of discoveries.  First, it is the oldest cultural institution in the country, founded in 1800 by an act of Congress and signed by John Adams.  When the capital city moved from Philly to D.C., the small library was in the Capital building which, discouragingly, was burnt down by the British in 1814.  

The library began again with the purchase of Thomas Jefferson’s library (cookbooks and all) in 1815.  It quickly filled up, especially after the Copyright Law of 1870, and new construction was finally authorized in 1886.  General Thomas Lincoln Casey was in charge of more than 50 American artists who decorated the interior of the monumental space.  This blog is actually named for a quote from a guidebook of the time that boasted: "America is justly proud of this palatial monument … It has been designed and executed entirely by American art and American labor. It is a fitting temple for the great thoughts of generations past, present, and to be."

photo from visitdc.com

To say the building, now called the Thomas Jefferson Building, is elaborately designed would be a enormous understatement.  It is beyond words, with the exception, perhaps, of the word palatial.  I suggest taking the virtual tour at the library website, it is even breathtaking on a computer screen.  The ‘lantern’ rises above the highest part of the dome in the main reading room and is painted with a mural of of a beautiful woman with two cherubs.  The artist, Edwin Howland Blashfield, created a woman at the center of the mural as the representative of “human understanding” and she is “lifting the veil of ignorance and looking forward to intellectual progress.” The cherubs are doing their part as well, one is holding the book of wisdom and knowledge and the other is encourage those below to struggle towards perfection.  Surrounding Ms. Human Understanding are figures representing twelve countries that Blashfield felt made the greatest contributions toward modern civilization.  Blashfield was sought after as a decorative painter in the 1890s and created murals at the Capitol building in St. Paul, MN, the Baltimore court house and the ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria hotel among many others.

The Library of Congress now consists of three buildings.  The original building is now called the Thomas Jefferson Building and is pristine thanks to a massive, twelve year restoration project that began in 1985.  In the LOC Information Bulletin, Barbara Wolanin explains that before additional library spaces were built this exquisite building had been bursting with books and people.  Overcrowding had horrible consequences:  drop ceilings, office partitions, blocked corridors and offices in the Great Hall.  It’s a good thing Cooper wasn’t around to see that.  When the James Madison Building was opened in 1980 the library could spread out, breath and slowly restore the original building and Blashfield’s mural to all it’s gilded glory.  I hope that Cooper’s antics led more people to investigate and visit the Library of Congress, he certainly lifted the veil of ignorance from my eyes.