Guest Post: Jenny Meyerhoff

Photo Credit: Mindy Garfinkle
Please welcome author Jenny Meyerhoff to GreenBeanTeenQueen! Jenny is the author of Queen of Secrets. I asked Jenny to share a story about libraries and I love what she has to say!

A lot of people think I’m crazy because I pay to have a library card. The town I live in doesn’t have a library and none of my taxes go to support a neighboring town’s library, so unless I pay a fee for a library card, I won’t have one. Most of the people in my town do not pay this fee. It costs about $200. I guess to them it seems like a lot. After all they could buy themselves around 6-20 (or more) new books a year with that money, and since most people only read a couple of books per year anyway, it’s not such a great deal.

But for me it’s a bargain, and not just because as a group my family probably checks out more than 20 books a month. (And movies too!) Libraries are a vital community center. When I go to the library, I always run into someone I know. I’m a pretty introverted person, and besides, I guard my alone time (when my kids are at school) fiercely for my writing, so I love those little social moments I get. When my kids were little, the children’s section was ideal for this. Books, toys and other children (and other parents for me to commiserate with) what more could we want in a morning or afternoon?

I could go on and on about the other services libraries offer that have meant so much to me. The drama program I did at my childhood library (West Bloomfield Public Library in Michigan,) the mentor-volunteer program my daughter does at our current library (Deerfield Public Library in Illinois) to help new readers, the fantastic speakers I used to attend all the time when I lived in Evanston (Evanston Public Library in Illinois.) But of course, for me, it’s mostly about the books.
I don’t know if there are many other places I feel so at home, so settled, as when I’m walking down the stacks of a library. The sense of possibility, the anticipation of a delicious read, is pure joy. It’s not the same feeling as browsing the aisles of a bookstore (though I love bookstores too) because when you are in a library every book is yours for the taking. Every single one.
So no, I’m not bothered by paying a fee for a library card. I’d even pay much more if I had to, because the cost of not having a library? Now that, I couldn’t afford.

Thanks Jenny! We have the same thing I my library-out of county residents have to pay for a library card and it's so great to see someone who supports libraries-no matter the cost!

Follow Jenny's blog tour to Young Adult Books Central where she'll be visiting July 20th!