Paper Mache
I grew up in a family that highly valued books. Dad was a largely self-educated man, but we had the Harvard classics, art books and lots of western fiction and nonfiction. I loved books by explorers like Thor Heyerdahl, Sir Edmund Hillary, Ernest Shackleton, Peter Freuchen and others who were the firsts and the almost made its and the never made its who died pursuing the dream.
I always received books at holidays. There were toys and models kits too, but I still have the books today. The rest are lost to history. I even have the first book I bought with my own savings …a massive coffee table size book titled “Birds of the World.”
My summer rituals included being a part of the local library’s summer reading program. I received a little fish sticker with the name of each book I read, and they were placed in a folder the library provided. At the end of the summer, a prize was awarded based on the number of books I’d read. I don’t remember the prize.
It may have been a book.
Scholastic Book Fairs at school each year were another special time. I’d put together a wish list of the available titles and hope that my behavior and grades warranted a little parental funding.
And thus began my lifetime love affair with books. I have hauled my collection from coast to coast a couple of times…my most beloved possessions.
We love the literary arts at YSAC. This next week we are presenting “The Multifarious Mystery of Marysville’s Missing Monuments” with Chuck Smith as the ghost of Supreme Court Justice Stephen J. Field and “Poetry Square” with Diane Funston and three guest poets. Both stream live on YSAC’S Facebook page and Youtube Channel. Later this year we’ll host a Shakespeare Birthday Party and a Hemingway Look-a-like contest. Stay tuned. Follow us on Facebook or go to yubasutterarts. org.
(Paper Mache is a weekly column about the arts community by David Read, director of Yuba Sutter Arts & Culture.)