Did you know that the Los Angeles Central Library suffered a devastating fire in 1986? Me neither! I learned all about the largest library fire in the United States and so much more about the history and workings of a large city library from Susan Orlean’s book, The Library Book. (You may remember when I…
If you’ve never heard of Snowflake Bentley, then I’ve got a treat for you! Wilson Bentley was an amazingly passionate man who dedicated his life to photographing microscopic snowflakes. Keep reading to find out more… Which came first, the snow or the passion? Wilson Alwyn Bentley was born on February 9, 1865, in Jericho, Vermont. …
I first heard about Grandma Gatewood several months ago on Sharon King’s blog, Midlife Moments. Emma Gatewood, better known as Grandma Gatewood, was the first woman to thru-hike the entire length of the Appalachian Trail (AT), alone, in one continuous journey. In 1955, at the age of 67, she hiked 2,050 miles wearing canvas shoes and…
It has been 10 months since I started writing here at Behind Every Day and I have published 65 posts since then. As I near the end of the calendar year, my mind turns to year-in-review mode and I thought it might be fun to look back and see which 5 of the 65 were…
Funny story… I read this article in the New Yorker titled, “Growing Up In the Library” and was instantly intrigued. The author, Susan Orlean, has written about the Central Library fire in Los Angeles in 1986 in a book called, The Library Book. Hearing about a library fire made me think of the Librarian of Basra…
I like to teach my kids at school about Veterans Day. It’s a bit tricky because they are so young. How much do you tell a 5 year old about the military in a way that emphasizes the importance without scaring them? I’m always looking for books that can tell about Veterans Day in an…
This journey started when I first learned about the packhorse librarians of the Great Depression. Research for that story led me to Luis Soriano’s biblioburro and Amy Baqer’s library rescue in Basra. What I also discovered along the way is there are many different types of bookmobiles in use around the world – camels, swamp…
How far would you go to save a library full of books? ”It was like a battle when the books got burned. I imagined that those books, those history and culture and philosophy books, were crying, ‘Why, why, why?’ ” -Alia Muhammed Baker One of the many tragedies of war is the destruction of irreplaceable…
In honor of Helen Keller’s birthday, June 27, I have written this post about my 2010 visit to her birthplace, Ivy Green. I’ve always been a reader. One book I read as a child that has had a lasting impact was a Helen Keller biography. I’m not sure if it’s because I also had…
Why do we wear poppies on Memorial Day? For that matter, what is Memorial Day even about? I teach 5-year-olds so for them, these questions are nebulous at best. I love this story about Moina Belle Michael and the origin of the Memorial Poppy but unfortunately it’s too mature for my young students (better suited…
Luis Soriano is a modern-day, one-man version of the Packhorse Librarians. He is a teacher in Columbia and twice a week he loads his two burros with books, grabs his biblioburro sign, and rides for 8 hours round-trip to bring books to rural children near la Gloria, Columbia. Watch as Luis tells his story An…
I had never heard of these amazing women until the INSH video happened to pop up in my Facebook feed one day. I love books, libraries, and horses so was immediately intrigued and wanted to know more. I dove deep on this one. I checked out 7 books from the library and read almost every…