My parents (and my sister who lived with us until I was six) did not read to me very much. As an infant I had received a couple of nursery rhyme anthologies, and I kept them throughout my life, but I do not remember anyone ever reading them to me. We did read the comics pages from the Sunday newspaper, all spread out on the kitchen table. I do, however, have a photo of myself at maybe two years of age, leafing through a large photo album. I do remember enjoying photo books with people’s pictures and no words.
    So, reading really started for me when I got my first library card, and the Temescal Branch of the Oakland Public Library became my second home. The Temescal Branch was, I think, a Carnegie-funded library. It was brick and solid, and survived even earthquakes and earthquake retrofitting. It stands proudly today and is still a wonderful, magical place to me.
    As a young reader my favorite books were by the British author Enid Blyton. As it happens, right now, there is a controversy about her in England because some of her early books were clearly racist and reflected the worst of England’s colonial past.
    But the books I enjoyed were the escapist mysteries for 10-year-olds that she started writing in 1944: The Island of Adventure, The Castle of Adventure, The Valley of Adventure, The Sea of Adventure, The Mountain of Adventure, The Ship of Adventure, and so forth. The main characters were a brother and sister, usually unencumbered by parents. They visited distant relatives, met new friends their age and stumbled upon various illegal activities, which they safely brought to the attention of the authorities. I can’t say what exactly attracted me to these books, because, a few years later, I just was not interested in Nancy Drew. And I really didn’t become fond of reading mysteries again until I was an adult. I think part of it the allure of the “Adventure” books was the ease of a connected series, much like episodes and seasons of television shows today. You knew the characters and you sort of knew what to expect. Comfort reading.



July 2021