This is so moving to me where I am now in my life. My wife just accepted a position at the public library. She was an elementary school teacher previously, but a new principal fired her 3 months prior to her obtaining tenure. This act by the principal came as part of a campaign of intolerance amongst gay faculty. This crushed my wife to her core, but the library has celebrated her for the wonderful and innovative educator and human that she is! Long live the library! PS. Thanks for the clip of Sid sayings. Totally completed the heart melt for me 😍
Awww, Sara. This post makes me happy. Kate was the same with Nicky and now, he’s a reading machine. His academic measurements are well above average for his age. Sid will be the same, I’m sure of it.
The rule in the Anania house is that you can only check out the books you can carry.
And yes, the library is a magical place for the whole family. 😊
This is wonderful! My first job as a teenager was at a library, and worked that job for about 4 years I believe. I will geek out about libraries. Such great memories of checking in books, sorting, shelving, and facing books, while I listened to cds on my disc man, If It Was You being one of them.
Sid is precious. Thank you for sharing these little bits of your life with us. May many library trips be in your future 📚
It makes me so deeply happy that - however brief this period may last, bc, well, kids - you got a kiddo who loved books as much as bibliophile SKQ. For at least a bit you both get to delight in "graphic novels".
I'd also never heard/read the keynote before and its inclusion is so moving. It made me want to immediately go to the library (a favorite place, but something often so inaccessible to me as a disabled person in such a rural place). Thankyou for keeping the spirit of libraries and culture alive in your music, lit, and writing here in this very Substack. 💜
This makes me the happiest ever! 😍😍😍 love that he is loving books, love that you are taking him to the library! Thanks for being such amazing supporters and friends of the library!
If this isn’t the cutest Substack entry ever! Sid the reader, hahaha. You’re doing so well supporting his love for reading and books. It begins right there at that age. Thanks to the huge library my mom allowed me to navigate through when I was a very little child and the countless of books and stories she got me and read for me, I wouldn’t have become an English teacher and a literary scholar. Books are the best!
I’ll have to get Siri to read me the keynote another time as it’s already very late here. I really appreciate you reading for us! Thank you so much! I loved the little clip of Sid talking. Do we get to know his first word? (It’s totally cool if you don’t want to share that with us, no pressure at all I was just curious).
I love that Sid is loving books. Ever since I remember thinking about books I’ve always had a very mixed relationship with them, as someone who hopes to have being an author as one of my careers I have always loved stories but as I got older and went to school and started learning to read, my dyslexia got in the way, for a long period of my life I hated books, school was trying to force me to read, something that as a dyslexic is impossible to learn the same way Neuro typical’s learn it. So as I said I hated reading, I hated going to the library and anything that was associated with reading, as I started to want more independence from my parents I became more frustrated with reading and subsequently books because I didn’t want to be read to anymore, I wanted to read by myself, but I can’t read novels. I still can’t read novels. With the amount I read during the day it’s impossible, I’m sure if I had nothing around to read at all then I’d be able to slowly work my way through a long novel. Anyway I’m getting off track. I’m very thankful for my mum, as a book worm (a proud self proclaimed one) she wanted me to love books too, for them to provide the escape for me as they did for her. Eventually she found a solution, back before digital audiobooks were really a thing, she found audiobooks, at that time this meant CD’s to put into our CD player at home and have an actor read it to you. But she found me a way. I’m glad they’re digital now, it’s allowed me to discover a lot more stuff. And now it’s a lot more normal to be listening to audiobooks or podcasts these days anyway.
Hope anyone who reads this finds it interesting, maybe some people can even relate?
I’m excited for Sid that he can enjoy libraries in his childhood in a way that I didn’t really get to after I started going to school! Good thing my mum is so persistent!
Thanks again for posting! Sid is adorable! Is that you or Stacey in the photo with him? (Sorry if I spelled her name wrong I always forget how to spell it).
Books are such a magical, important thing. To develop a relationship with them is so important. I love how books become part of you, they help shape you into the person you end up becoming. I love giving books as gifts because it's as if I am giving away a part of myself, even though I did not write them. Thank you for always championing reading, nerding out about books, and sharing that part of your lives with us. What a lucky kid Sid is!
My son and I go to the library all the time. They have some great programs there like Story Time with different book character’s, craft programs, early reading programs, book reading rewards STEM days etc. We also just recently had Read with a Drag Queen. What programs does your library have and is Sid in any of them? I remember when I was growing up the “library” in my town was in a small house. When I got older they ended up building an actual library and I spent every day after school there (there wasn’t exactly anything else to do as my town only had a library, public school a gas station and a tiny video store.).
I spend a lot of time in a library so I understand the desire for this type of thing. Glad to hear reading actual books is something people are trying to continue.
I remember so fondly the many, many, many trips to the library with my kids, it was one of our favorite places to hangout, especially on rainy/cold days. Our libraries have a robust activities calendar for youth activities, a maker lab (with lots of awesome arts supplies and 3d printers, etc,) and frequently brings in interestkng guest speakers, authors, and musicians.
I am absolutely dumbfounded everytime I see a post or op ed dismissing the value of physical library spaces in the "digital age", (However, I do think the expansion of library services into digital content via apps like Libby and Hoopla is a great way to embrace, not replace, the full spectrum of what libraries can offer)
Thank you for writing this post Sara. I think it is really ironic that this was posted right before I had a job interview at my local library. Like you guys I read books about outsiders to try to find my place in the world and Perks of Being a Wallflower was the book that hit the closest home until I read your memoir. I will always remember my best friend (secret crush) giving me Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli for my birthday and it had a hand written note stating "I wanted you to read this because you're different than anyone I ever met before. You're my stargirl.". I am curious if you guys ever gifted books to your friends/crushes.
B. I think I remember you mentioning at some point that Stacey is Jewish? If so, the fact that a son of hers says "oh, no," is very on-brand. After all, "oh, no" is brother sibling of "oy, vey."
C. You're entire keynote speech was wonderful.
"And I can’t help but take it personally that the most important adults who had the most significant impact on me are sometimes seen as dispensable in our current education system. "
This resonated oh, so much. I was a film & TV major in high school, a privilege all on its own and something you can do in Israeli high schools. Part of my curriculum included AP History of the Art. What an important class for visual artists. Everything we grew to learn about composition, framing, lighting, we learned in that class, for three years.
Ours was the last class to take it. A year later, they took it out of the curriculum of the Film majors and instead added more technological stuff. A real shame. That teacher was a legend. And I remember things from this class to this day, 20 years later.
Oh no! (Sid goes to the library)
This is so moving to me where I am now in my life. My wife just accepted a position at the public library. She was an elementary school teacher previously, but a new principal fired her 3 months prior to her obtaining tenure. This act by the principal came as part of a campaign of intolerance amongst gay faculty. This crushed my wife to her core, but the library has celebrated her for the wonderful and innovative educator and human that she is! Long live the library! PS. Thanks for the clip of Sid sayings. Totally completed the heart melt for me 😍
As a librarian, this is my fav Substack post yet :) I may be biased lol but for real -- yay for raising kids who think libraries are cool!!
Awww, Sara. This post makes me happy. Kate was the same with Nicky and now, he’s a reading machine. His academic measurements are well above average for his age. Sid will be the same, I’m sure of it.
The rule in the Anania house is that you can only check out the books you can carry.
And yes, the library is a magical place for the whole family. 😊
Petition for Sara to write a baby book
This is wonderful! My first job as a teenager was at a library, and worked that job for about 4 years I believe. I will geek out about libraries. Such great memories of checking in books, sorting, shelving, and facing books, while I listened to cds on my disc man, If It Was You being one of them.
Sid is precious. Thank you for sharing these little bits of your life with us. May many library trips be in your future 📚
It makes me so deeply happy that - however brief this period may last, bc, well, kids - you got a kiddo who loved books as much as bibliophile SKQ. For at least a bit you both get to delight in "graphic novels".
I'd also never heard/read the keynote before and its inclusion is so moving. It made me want to immediately go to the library (a favorite place, but something often so inaccessible to me as a disabled person in such a rural place). Thankyou for keeping the spirit of libraries and culture alive in your music, lit, and writing here in this very Substack. 💜
This makes me the happiest ever! 😍😍😍 love that he is loving books, love that you are taking him to the library! Thanks for being such amazing supporters and friends of the library!
If this isn’t the cutest Substack entry ever! Sid the reader, hahaha. You’re doing so well supporting his love for reading and books. It begins right there at that age. Thanks to the huge library my mom allowed me to navigate through when I was a very little child and the countless of books and stories she got me and read for me, I wouldn’t have become an English teacher and a literary scholar. Books are the best!
Hey Sara,
I’ll have to get Siri to read me the keynote another time as it’s already very late here. I really appreciate you reading for us! Thank you so much! I loved the little clip of Sid talking. Do we get to know his first word? (It’s totally cool if you don’t want to share that with us, no pressure at all I was just curious).
I love that Sid is loving books. Ever since I remember thinking about books I’ve always had a very mixed relationship with them, as someone who hopes to have being an author as one of my careers I have always loved stories but as I got older and went to school and started learning to read, my dyslexia got in the way, for a long period of my life I hated books, school was trying to force me to read, something that as a dyslexic is impossible to learn the same way Neuro typical’s learn it. So as I said I hated reading, I hated going to the library and anything that was associated with reading, as I started to want more independence from my parents I became more frustrated with reading and subsequently books because I didn’t want to be read to anymore, I wanted to read by myself, but I can’t read novels. I still can’t read novels. With the amount I read during the day it’s impossible, I’m sure if I had nothing around to read at all then I’d be able to slowly work my way through a long novel. Anyway I’m getting off track. I’m very thankful for my mum, as a book worm (a proud self proclaimed one) she wanted me to love books too, for them to provide the escape for me as they did for her. Eventually she found a solution, back before digital audiobooks were really a thing, she found audiobooks, at that time this meant CD’s to put into our CD player at home and have an actor read it to you. But she found me a way. I’m glad they’re digital now, it’s allowed me to discover a lot more stuff. And now it’s a lot more normal to be listening to audiobooks or podcasts these days anyway.
Hope anyone who reads this finds it interesting, maybe some people can even relate?
I’m excited for Sid that he can enjoy libraries in his childhood in a way that I didn’t really get to after I started going to school! Good thing my mum is so persistent!
Thanks again for posting! Sid is adorable! Is that you or Stacey in the photo with him? (Sorry if I spelled her name wrong I always forget how to spell it).
Phoenix, he/they/it, 16, Australia
Books are such a magical, important thing. To develop a relationship with them is so important. I love how books become part of you, they help shape you into the person you end up becoming. I love giving books as gifts because it's as if I am giving away a part of myself, even though I did not write them. Thank you for always championing reading, nerding out about books, and sharing that part of your lives with us. What a lucky kid Sid is!
My son and I go to the library all the time. They have some great programs there like Story Time with different book character’s, craft programs, early reading programs, book reading rewards STEM days etc. We also just recently had Read with a Drag Queen. What programs does your library have and is Sid in any of them? I remember when I was growing up the “library” in my town was in a small house. When I got older they ended up building an actual library and I spent every day after school there (there wasn’t exactly anything else to do as my town only had a library, public school a gas station and a tiny video store.).
The way he says "Oh no, oh no " so adorable 😍
I spend a lot of time in a library so I understand the desire for this type of thing. Glad to hear reading actual books is something people are trying to continue.
I remember so fondly the many, many, many trips to the library with my kids, it was one of our favorite places to hangout, especially on rainy/cold days. Our libraries have a robust activities calendar for youth activities, a maker lab (with lots of awesome arts supplies and 3d printers, etc,) and frequently brings in interestkng guest speakers, authors, and musicians.
I am absolutely dumbfounded everytime I see a post or op ed dismissing the value of physical library spaces in the "digital age", (However, I do think the expansion of library services into digital content via apps like Libby and Hoopla is a great way to embrace, not replace, the full spectrum of what libraries can offer)
Thank you for writing this post Sara. I think it is really ironic that this was posted right before I had a job interview at my local library. Like you guys I read books about outsiders to try to find my place in the world and Perks of Being a Wallflower was the book that hit the closest home until I read your memoir. I will always remember my best friend (secret crush) giving me Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli for my birthday and it had a hand written note stating "I wanted you to read this because you're different than anyone I ever met before. You're my stargirl.". I am curious if you guys ever gifted books to your friends/crushes.
A. Sid is adorable.
B. I think I remember you mentioning at some point that Stacey is Jewish? If so, the fact that a son of hers says "oh, no," is very on-brand. After all, "oh, no" is brother sibling of "oy, vey."
C. You're entire keynote speech was wonderful.
"And I can’t help but take it personally that the most important adults who had the most significant impact on me are sometimes seen as dispensable in our current education system. "
This resonated oh, so much. I was a film & TV major in high school, a privilege all on its own and something you can do in Israeli high schools. Part of my curriculum included AP History of the Art. What an important class for visual artists. Everything we grew to learn about composition, framing, lighting, we learned in that class, for three years.
Ours was the last class to take it. A year later, they took it out of the curriculum of the Film majors and instead added more technological stuff. A real shame. That teacher was a legend. And I remember things from this class to this day, 20 years later.