Welcome to Jumpin' Friday, formerly known as my Road Map entries, which consisted of my beloved jumpies across the country. For those of you not in the know, here is a pretty loose description of what I call a jumpy:
A librarian + a road trip + a library + a camera = a jumpy, or a picture in mid-jump
I've been to hundreds of libraries in various countries. Going there is easy, thanks to my adorable and dedicated husband, who has pulled many responsible James Bond maneuvers whenever I squeal at the sight of a library sign on the road. It's the chronicling that's hard.
Here's my stab at describing my recent travails across hot Texas terrain.
a) Castroville Public Library
Castroville, TX (06.05.09)
I have a total soft spot for Castroville, the Little Alsace of Texas, because our French class took a field trip there back in middle school. At the time, it felt like we had driven way out of town, but it's really quite close to San Antonio. Ha!
b) Hondo Public Library
Hondo, TX (06.05.09)
Wow. For a Texas town of roughly 8481 residents, I was really impressed with their young adult collection. It was larger than most libraries of its size that I've seen, *and* there was a good representation of sexual diversity storytelling. As in, the books weren't just about straight Anglo teens. I was just so obscenely proud! In the picture below you can see me holding Ellen Wittlinger's Hard Love and Sara Ryan's Empress of the World.
c) Sabinal Public LibrarySabinal, TX (06.05.09)
It's hard to see this from the picture below, but the library has lovely hardwood floors that I wanted to slip and slide on. The librarians there were very kind and polite. I was also really tickled by their VHS collection. I found an 80's Babysitter's Club videotape that made me long for my old video player!
More to come soon!
