Books and Book Stores

Don't you just love book stores? I get all warm and fuzzy when I'm in a book store. It comes from a love for books that began nearly sixty years ago, when mama took us to the children's room of the library for the Saturday morning book readings by Miss Amy.

Even now, I can feel the magic I felt as a child the moment mama opened the heavy library door and herded us into the enormous entrance lobby. With each step up the stairs to the main room, my imagination awoke and filled with eager anticipation. The towering shelves of books rose on either side of me and were visible in any direction I turned. It filled me with such awe and wonder. Stories and adventures were everywhere, and I wanted to hear them all!

Miss Amy always sat in a rocking chair. "The Chosen Book" was in her lap and her hands rested upon it, as she waited for the oval rug in front of her to fill with children. I sat quietly, struggling to contain my growing excitement. What wonderful book had she picked to read that day? Where would the new adventure take me? Would it be sad, or funny, or maybe, even filled with danger?  It didn't really matter.  I knew I would ride the invisible roller coaster of the author's words anywhere and everywhere for as long as it lasted.

Then, suddenly, it was time. Miss Amy welcomed us to Story Time, as she slowly opened "The Chosen Book". With the very first sentence, I was captured and the magic began. I was no longer me, sitting on a rug in the children's room of the public library. I was living within her words and magically transported in time and space. That's when I knew I wanted to someday, somehow, create that very same wonder and magic in a book.

I finally realized that childhood dream. I am an author.  But, magically, I still relive the awesome wonder I knew as a child, when I'm surrounded by books in libraries and stores. In a book store, of course, I have the added advantage of being able to own the books that I love so much.

I've done a lot of school visits, poetry workshops, book fairs, book store signings, and library readings, since being published. I can truly say I know the joy Miss Amy felt, while doing her children's room readings. I've grown addicted to seeing that same magic at work in the faces of today's children as they live within my words.

Oh, and it's always a special treat, when some of the books I'm surrounded by in a book store or library are mine ...



[CJ Heck is the author of four books, which are available through Amazon.com (CreateSpace), Kindle, Nook, and look for it in your favorite book store.   For book excerpts, school visits, and more information, please visit Barking Spiders Poetry: http://www.barkingspiderspoetry.com]