Need help? Call Us Now : +1 (888) 123-5678

Returning to the 100 Acre Library

Our blogging group, Southern Bloggers Jubilee, had our August meeting at the Fairhope Public Library. What a trip down memory lane! When my children were young, they were huge fans of Winnie the Pooh and the 100 Acre Wood. We made weekly trips to the library in the summer and owned an extensive library of Pooh videos.

I’d been concerned for future generations of library kids with the current electronic age, but with one visit to this library, my fears were alleviated. In the children’s section, I found the honey pot of memories in this child-size poster board.  A. A. Milne was a brilliant writer and E. H. Shepard can bring tears to my eyes. A glance at Christopher Robin with his arm around Pooh, and longings awaken within me for those nights when legs would dangle off my lap, as we snuggled in with Winnie and his “nothing” days. I rarely had a “nothing day” myself back then, and if I could go back, I’d spend much more time exploring the 100 Acre Wood with my kids.

The brick and mortar site of this library may be much smaller than 100 acres, but not in cyber-space.

Winnie the Pooh

The Fairhope Public Library is filled with real page-turning books, like Winnie the Pooh, as well as many other free, on-line reference tools. Did you catch that? F R E E!  There’s something for all age groups, too! A few databases that the library director, Tamara Dean shared with us are the genealogy site, Ancestry.com, Màngo (languages) and Zinio (e-magazines).

Tamara Deen, Fairhope Public Library Director
As soon as Ms. Dean mentioned genealogy, Pooh came to mind again,

“Think it over, think it under.” 

I had already been doing just that about researching my ancestry. And then there’s this little saying…

“When you see someone putting on his Big Boots, you can be pretty sure that an Adventure is going to happen.” 

Well, that is just what happened when I got home. I put on my “Big Boots” and The Ancestry Adventure has begun. A fellow blogger, Karyn Tunks of Professor Storytime and I are officially registered to take our first class in this “100 Acre Library.” We begin with Genealogy Class – Using Online Resources. But, the class I can’t wait to take is called “Who’s Your Daddy’s Daddy?”.

Genealogy
A growing section of ancestry books.

Genealogy

Genealogy Books

If you haven’t been to your local library in a while, stop what you’re doing (after reading and commenting on this post) and get over there! If you are local, check out this packed event calendar and then GO! Because…

“When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.” 

Library Collage
Every section of the library has something fun. Even the circulation desk was fun with this lovely lady’s smiling face. Megrez Rudolf reminds me,

“Nobody can be uncheered with a balloon.” 

Who could be “uncheered” with this smile and feathered hat as a greeting? And…

“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” 

My children may live across the globe, but A. A. Milne, a writer whose work can still be found in the library, can keep them in my heart forever.

Winnie the Pooh

Linking with Savvy Southern Style.

Leave a Comment