My First Library Book

How does a certain library book that influenced a little girl still have an impact on her decades later? Which book is it? Read on.

*Dawn’s original copy of the childhood book that had a profound impact on her.*

The upcoming release of the film version of Harold and the Purple Crayon in July, has triggered a rush of memories for me. It was my very first library book and for me it represents freedom and independence. My parents read me the classics, Pinocchio, Babar, and Pippi Longstocking but we didn’t have any early readers in our home. Though I could choose from the many books in our home library, they were books that had been purchased for me, not books I had chosen.

I remember the bus ride with my mother to the Austin Branch and being amazed at the number of books lining the shelves. The smell that the multitude of books produced is – to this day -- one of my favorite things. Harold and the Purple Crayon wasn’t the only book I chose that day, but it is the one that had the most profound impact on me. The idea that this boy didn’t need parents to solve his problems, that he could imagine the solution and just draw it was freeing for me.

I had no idea on that crisp fall day in 1966 that the library would come to mean so much to me. I can’t remember a time since when I haven’t possessed a library card. Through illness and hard times, the library has been my solace and the place I go to educate and entertain myself, to solve the challenges that arise and an easily accessible escape as well through fiction and film.

My first library book had such an impact on me that as an 8-year-old when my parents told me I could choose any color to redecorate my “big girl” room, I chose a lovely shade of lavender and now, many decades later, I surround myself with various shades of purple to remind me that whatever issue I have, I have the capability to find a solution.

Harold and the Purple Crayon will celebrate its 70th anniversary in 2025 so keep an eye out for celebratory activities. If you’d like to hear more about how Chris Van Allsburg, author and illustrator of Jumanji and the Polar Express, was influenced by Harold and the Purple Crayon, check out the Remember Reading Podcast episode from March 20, 2024.

— By Dawn Olderr Montalvo
Member | Friends of the Edgewater Library
All photos courtesty of Dawn Olderr Montalvo

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