Mrs. Kyle and the Legacy a Library Offered

When I was a child I used to love to go to the library. It was a small one housed in our city hall, and for some reason, had a two book limit on the checkouts. I am not sure if that rule was aimed at irresponsible kids but I was allowed to take as many as I liked and I recall leaving with stacks of books only to return for more the next trip into town. Back then it was all still done by hand.. no computers in this library. The librarian was Mrs. Kyle when I was quite young... she had blue hair and she seemed very old. I remember too, the exact placement of the various books on the shelves. I made my way through most of the book in the juvenile fiction section.

I remember reading series books like the Nancy Drews and the Dana Girls (which I prefered) and then even reading some Cherry Ames Student Nurse or Vicki Barr Flight Stewardess books. The real gems for me in girls series fiction was the Judy Bolton series by Margaret Sutton. Her books were better than Nancy Drew because, unlike Nancy who never aged or changed much at all, Judy dumped one boyfriend and moved on to another... she aged... she moved... she married... life went on in the midst of her sleuthing. I loved it. Her books were written in the 30s and they continued for 38 titles until the 60s. They are set in Pennsylvania. There is a fan site here.

Then like every good girl reader, I read things like Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and its sequel... the Mary Poppins books (meanwhile this looks interesting...) and the Pippi Longstocking books... and then the very best of all... the Anne of Green Gables series that convinced me that living on Prince Edward Island had to be about the best thing ever. I loved this girl and her world and actually mimicked her a lot in play in my solitary farm life. I read all the books in that series and was delighted to learn later on that many others existed by Lucy Maud Montgomery as they were reprinted in the 80s. I think, in the end, I almost prefered the Emily of New Moon series. I really need to reread these books.

Now, the next greatest influence for me was a set of books called Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace. The mention of these books often serves up a blank look from even the most devoted readers because they aren't nearly as common as Anne or Nancy. However, there is a Betsy-Tacy society. The books are set in Mankato, Minnesota which isn't even all that far away from where I live. The first four books are aimed at an elementary age but the reading ability ages with the character and Betsy Ray grows up from a child to a married woman in this series. They are pretty "old fashioned" but for some reason these books were a feel good type of read that made me long for a simpler time. And there's a moment in the film You've Got Mail when Meg Ryan's character Kathleen Kelly introduces a young reader to the books. The first time I saw that, my heart leapt.

Finally, a set of books even more rare and apparently unfamiliar to the readership of young girls are the Beany Malone books. These books were set in the 40s in Denver and were written by Lenora Mattingly Weber.

Looking for copies of them now I have discovered they are just about impossible to find for a reasonable price. For ages I sought used copies only to discover it was as if they didn't exist. I returned to my small town library eager to at least make myself believe those books were real only to discover that while my mind had preserved the memory of that library... the interior and the shelving system had long since changed. And now almost ALL of the books I held dear had been weeded out in the discard pile for lack of interest. I almost died. If I'd ever known they might have been in jeopardy I would have given a sizeable donation for those books to keep them there or to remove them to my own personal library.

Since my search for all these titles began the Betsy Tacy books were reprinted in at least three different paperback covers (you know I have all of them, right?) and I actually got a set of the ten books in hardcover (though they don't have the jackets anymore). Talk about obsessed. However, I only have two of the Beany Malone hardcover books. A few years ago while working at Barnes and Noble I noticed that a company called Image Cascade publishing was republishing them. I immediately special ordered all 12 books and now I have the complete collection including the cookbook.

I am not sure why all of this is so important to me. I guess owning them seems important since I worry that I may not find them again...and because they meant something to me once, I like to be able to return to that place even for a time. I worry that as I gush someone will take me at my word and rush out and find these books, read them, and wonder what on earth I was thinking... I can only say, that a childhood me... a little farm girl... fell in love with these books the same way she loved truly wonderful books like The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle, A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter, Charlotte's Web by E.B. White and From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg. Because of that love I hold on tight and am determined that maybe someday I will be able to pass them on to some other little girl and she will love them the same way.