I went to the library to return my books the other day, and then to locate a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird for one of my students (his mother had returned it before he was finished, and he insisted that he could only read this particular copy).
As I was turning down the K-M aisle, I noticed a little, brown-skinned girl in a pink, puffy coat entering the aisle next to mine, her black hair done up in pigtails, dragging her fingertips of her left hand along the spines of the books. In general, I'm fascinated by watching children in public, but I found myself smiling more than usual at this one. She seemed so focused on the books, so content to be in the library.
She looked like I had imagined my daughter would have looked like, if.
Thankfully, the seven copies of To Kill a Mockingbird were located on the very bottom shelf where I could actually reach them. I crouched down and started looking for the version with "big print!" that would signal I'd found my student's preferred version.
I heard footsteps, and turned to see the same little girl, plodding her way down my aisle, still touching the books with her left hand. She seemed oblivious to my presence, so I moved closer to my own shelf to let her by.
When she passed me, she patted my back with her hand. As if comforting me. Or saying goodbye.
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2 comments:
does your student have glasses?
I used to read the Large Prints b/c I could read with in bed without glasses.
He doesn't wear glasses that I know of--and the "large print" he was talking about was only minutely bigger than the "regular" size.
I think it was more of an issue of not wanting to put the effort into relocating and finishing the book, even though he enjoyed it. My goal in checking it out for him was to remove his excuse for him.
We'll see if it works.
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