Your writing is captivating and evocative, Dacha. Your comment about the child being at home in that glorious library made me think of my university students in the United Arab Emirates circa 2001 who had to be taught that it was OK to pull a book from the shelf and open it and read it. They had never done that before. And then there were the students in China circa 1984 who could only check out 4 books per semester and each title had to be related to their major subject. They requested the books and someone else retrieved them. They never got to walk along the shelves and pull out a book that caught their eye.
There was a group of school children visiting the library when I was there and one little girl, incredulous, asked her teacher : You mean we can take books from here, even at our age ?!
Such a soothing read, and gorgeous photos, Dacha! 🦋💙
Thank you Caroline 🩵
agree.
What a wonderful library and thank you for another peaceful walk.
Thank you, Deborah !
It is such a magical place !
Your writing is captivating and evocative, Dacha. Your comment about the child being at home in that glorious library made me think of my university students in the United Arab Emirates circa 2001 who had to be taught that it was OK to pull a book from the shelf and open it and read it. They had never done that before. And then there were the students in China circa 1984 who could only check out 4 books per semester and each title had to be related to their major subject. They requested the books and someone else retrieved them. They never got to walk along the shelves and pull out a book that caught their eye.
Oh Marlee thank you for sharing.
There was a group of school children visiting the library when I was there and one little girl, incredulous, asked her teacher : You mean we can take books from here, even at our age ?!
Of course her teacher said yes.
And I thought - What a gift! What freedom !
Your comment has underlined this memory.
Books are magic. Libraries like the one you describe are truly a gift.