The Library

 

            Benji was so bored. School had ended for the summer a week ago, and he already felt like he had nothing to do. His neighborhood friends were all on vacation, and he felt left behind. He watched shows on Netflix for most of the day before his mom told him he had to find something else to do.

            “Why don’t we go to the library so you can get some books to read for the summer?” Mom suggested.

            Benji rolled his eyes and said, “I don’t want to spend my summer reading. Summer is supposed to be about relaxing.” He flopped onto the couch to demonstrate how to relax.

            “But the library can be a fun, magical place,” Mom continued. “When I was younger, I spent a lot of time going back and forth to the library. Books can take you anywhere.”

            “Come on, Mom. The library is overrated. I’m not a little kid anymore that gets excited about story time.”

            “Oh, right, you’re 12 now, much too old for the library.”

            Benji heaved a sigh and said, “Fine, let’s go to the library.”

            The library was only a few blocks away, and Mom insisted that they ride their bikes there. Benji felt hot and sweaty when they finally pulled in to the bike rack in front of the library. As soon as they entered, Benji basked in the cool air conditioning for a moment while Mom wandered over to the adult section in search of a good book.

            Benji let his feet carry him to the older children’s section, where they had rows and rows of fictional novels. He walked up and down the tall shelves of books, waiting for something to jump out and interest him. He trailed his fingers along the spines of books on one of the shelves. His fingers passed over one book with a plain dark green cover. Green was his favorite color. The book was called “Lost in the Netherworld.” He opened the book to read what it was about and found himself intrigued. The character in the book played a video game that ended up sucking him in, and trapping the boy until he was able to beat the game as one of its characters.

            Yes, this was the book that Benji wanted to bring home. He walked over to the checkout area with his book and sat down to wait for Mom. She hadn’t found a book to check out yet, so he settled himself in a chair and opened his book and started to read.

            Immediately, Benji found himself drawn in to the story. He became so engrossed, that he didn’t see Mom come over and sit down. “Good book?” she asked, smiling.

            Startled, Benji sat up and said, “Yeah, it’s pretty awesome.”

            Mom studied him for a minute and said, “Maybe you should choose some more novels. It doesn’t look like that one will last you very long.”

            At first Benji was confused, but then he realized that he was more than halfway through his book. “Uh, yeah actually. Let me see if this is part of a series or something.” He went back over to where he’d found the book and saw that it was indeed part of a series. Twelve more books in dark green covers sat on the shelf. Benji decided to take them all.

            After checking out, Benji crammed all of his books into the crate attached to the front of his bike. They barely fit, and he and Mom started back home. As soon as he walked into the door with his arms full of books, he headed for the couch and got comfortable. He opened the book that he had been reading before and let himself dive right back in to the story.

            Benji finished all 13 books in five days. He felt almost sad when he was done. “Can we go to the library again today?” he asked Mom.

            “Well, I have some things to do, but you’re welcome to head over there on your bike,” she said, looking at him curiously. “You finished that huge stack of books already?”

            “It was a really good series,” Benji said, gathering up his books to take back. “I hope there are more books like those. I could literally just sit and read them all day.”

            “I noticed,” Mom said as Benji headed out the door.

            Benji rode his bike as fast as he could to get to the library. He turned his books back in, and went straight back to see if there were any other books that he missed from last time. He was disappointed when he saw that he had indeed read them all.

            Sighing, he slowly scanned the shelves for something else that looked interesting. His eyes fell on another dark green book with a plain cover. He picked it up, thinking it might be part of the other series. It wasn’t. Reading the little summary on the inside cover, he saw that this book was about a band of pirates trying to escape from the British Navy. “This looks interesting,” he whispered as he turned to go check out.

            As he walked back down the aisle, he saw another plain, dark green book. This one turned out to be a story of an expedition of treasure seekers, deep in the Egyptian desert. He would check out this book, too. He looked around for other dark green books. He found several. They were all by different authors, and they were all about different things. All of them intrigued him, and by the time he went to check out, he had another stack of 13 books.

            When he came back home with his arms full of books, Mom raised her eyebrows and asked, “Didn’t you want to return those?”

            “These are different ones,” Benji said as he set down the books onto the table.

            Mom picked one up and said, “Weird. These look exactly like the other books you had.”

            Benji fell in love with reading that summer. Every time he went to the library, he searched for the dark green covers. They always turned out to be things that he liked. He started to think of the library as his library. By the time school started again, he had read dozens of books. When his friends asked him what he had done over the summer he told them he read a lot. They asked him why he would spend so much time reading, and Benji answered, “I just like the color green.” When they gave him confused looks, he added, “The library is not overrated. Try looking for your own favorite color books. Maybe the library will help you out."

            Most of Benji’s friends remained confused, but a few of them acted on his advice. Those friends also became voracious readers. Benji knew that a book’s cover didn’t really matter, but when he went to look for the green books, he always found more. Eventually, he didn’t need the library’s help to choose books, and loved exploring new worlds.

            Sometimes libraries are more than just buildings with books in them. They can take people places, and maybe even influence their book choices, like this library did for Benji and his friends. Who’s to say that libraries aren’t magical and alive?