the library is a grand place

I love the library.
It has provided us a great place to meet people when we have moved around so much.
The library provides our kids with activities, friends, and story times led by wonderful story tellers.
It provides us with free books that we can check out and return when we are done with them.

After story time last week I was browsing around and came across two gems in the children's section of our local library.

One of them is a book that I remember my mom reading to me when I was younger and I was reminded of it during a recent visit to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Annex.

The book is called Hiroshima No Pika and was written by Toshi Maruki. It is the story of a seven year old girl, and her family, who were at their home in Hiroshima the day that the atomic bomb, nicknamed "little boy," was dropped by the Enola Gay. It is a poignant tale and at this point I haven't read it to Thomas. I know that JuJu is too young and I don't know if Thomas could handle the harsh reality written in this narrative.

We talked extensively about atomic bombs and nuclear weapons on our trip to the museum but this story breaks my heart.

At the museum we saw the Enola Gay, just feet away, and Thomas and I discussed how Paul Tibbets might have felt and what he might have been thinking on August 6, 1945. It was amazing to think that a plane that changed the world was just sitting among many other planes, of little significance, in this hangar.




The other book that I picked up was out on display and it just caught my eye. It is called The Wall: Growing up Behind the Iron Curtain and was written by Peter Sis. It is Peter's story of growing up in Czechoslovakia during the Cold War. I learned many things reading this picture book and the illustrations are superb. Thomas enjoyed the story as well and the part about the police carrying around scissors to cut the long hair of boys really stuck in his mind (having recently been a boy with very long hair himself). I highly recommend it.

So... visit your public library. That is my PSA for the day.