Betty Birney’s Blog

The arrival of summer brings back so many wonderful childhood memories: long days of playing in the yard with friends,  playing games inside the house with friends, swimming, roller skating, jump rope, hopscotch,  jacks,walking to the movies, and reading! I read all year, but there was even more time for books in the summer. My whole family read in our respective beds every night – I remember calling out to my parents’ bedroom and spelling a word so they would tell me what it was.

When I was very young, there was no library in Affton, then a relatively young suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. My parents took my sister Janet and me into the city to libraries to check out as many books as we could. My sister recalls that there was a limit and since she was an ardent reader, my parents had to take her to more than one branch to get enough books to last the week. I really wasn’t reading then, but I do remember the books I checked out, many of them time and time again.

But by the time I was in full reading mode, a miracle occurred. Every two weeks, the Bookmobile chugged down Gravois Road in Affton, where I lived, parked next to Affton Drugs and opened its doors! The photos above are exactly the bookmobile I remember. I can still hear the thump of my feet on the wooden steps. In the summer, Janet and I would walk to the bookmobile, arms filled with books both coming and going. It was a long walk by today’s standards but well worthwhile. (We walked everywhere back then by ourselves.)

Oh, what delicious books there were! And the librarians did a good job of stocking the books. So if I read and loved a Little House or Betsy-Tacy or Dr. Doolittle book, another one would appear in a few weeks and a librarian would nudge me in its direction. I took it for granted back then but I now I am so grateful to those angels of the library, looking out for two book-loving girls.

I’m mentioning this for two reasons. One, I believe about 100 librarians were laid off in the Los Angeles Public Library system today (despite a last minute effort at a reprieve), which is a tragedy. The hours are being cut as well. When I go to my local Studio City branch at opening time, there’s always a line of people waiting for the doors to open. Unfortunately, I don’t believe the City Council or Mayor ever go to the library as ordinary citizens to see what really goes on there.

Secondly, I’m going to attempt to go back to my childhood (the 1950s-1960s) and blog about my favorite books from those days, especially those which had a great influence on me as a person and a writer. I’ve not been blogging for a while for several reasons, but I’m going to give it a go … so if you are reading the blog, please take a moment to post a comment!

Things have been hectic as the holidays are bearing down on us … and I still haven’t finished Humphrey book seven. Eerk!

Hopefully in 2010, I’ll be back to blogging.

Meanwhile, thanks so much and Season’s Greetings to Humphrey’s friends and to the entire Sassafras Springs community!

I’ve been back from the UK and NY for a week and a half and I’ve been unusually quiet – I think I just need to process all I saw and did. I’ll be filling in the backstory as I go through the hundreds of photos I’ve taken. But rather than a blow-by-blow, I’ll just take some of the more interesting photos and caption them.

Meanwhile, if you’d like a smile, check out this book trailer for Surprises According to Humphrey from a school in Laredo, Texas. The book is currently on the Texas Bluebonnet list.

We spent a week in Caterham, Surrey with Wendy (sister of my good friend Nicky) and Roger in their guesthouse … and with their daughter Min (our friend for 20 years), who lives next door with her children, Jonny and Suzy and hamster, Smudge.

We had a glorious day in Bath Sunday, a sold out crowd for my event at the Guildhall, large signing of fantastic Humphrey fans, dinner at the famous Hole in the Wall restaurant, where we ate last year. Now it’s back to Surrey for one night and on, regrettably, to Heathrow and NY. The fun’s not over, though, as we’ll be in NY with family and friends (and best of all, our son) for a few days more!

If I don’t get on the internet tonight, farewell to the UK – I really do consider it my second home!

Humphrey’s friend, Bobbi!

Awesome author and fellow LAYA Paula Yoo just blogged a SCARY-SCARY-SCARY story about her intrepid hamster, Bobbi, who recently interviewed me. (Bobbi’s a good writer, too. So is Paula’s cat, Oreo, who is writing a novel!)

Bobbi experienced a rather dramatic experience at the vet’s office this week. I have to tell you it has a happy ending or you’d be chewing your paws in suspense. All I can say to Bobbi is: keep on spinning that wheel! Whew!

In two weeks, I’ll be meeting another hamster – Smudge – who lives in Surrey, UK. She had an unsqueakably scary experience last weekend but I’ll tell you more about it when I get to hear her side of the story!