The Smile That Hooked Me for Life

Abstract

In the summer of 1944 when I was nine years old I began to plan my life. Our family had just moved into a fifty-year old house, previously own by a white family, and I was allowed for the first time to walk the six blocks to the library in the George Washington Carver Grade School #87. My memory of the librarian is very vivid. I cannot remember her name but her smile is forever etched in my mind. This smile said, “This is a special place, only for you.” I know there were other children who probably thought the same thing but in my mind she had prepared the collection for only me. That summer I decided that I would become a librarian. No matter what it would take, I would study hard and become a smiling face in the world of information. When I told my parents of my decision to become a librarian, they just looked at me with a curious stare and said, “Well, we’ll talk about this when you get older.”