Reverence Librarian

[corvideye]

While walking through the children's section of the library today, I noticed a book called "Illustrated Timeline of World History", which immediately filled me with happy fondness and nostalgia--not for that specific book, but for others like it which I enjoyed so much as a kid. This caused me to ponder that the fact that I've loved reference books ever since I was a kid is probably yet another sign that I'm a weirdo. When I was ca. 11, I discovered the Reference Section, and it became my Trove of Wonders, all those tantalizing books I longed to take home but couldn't, all the answers I had always craved about what things were called and how they came to be. I adored encyclopedias. I loved any authoritative, comprehensive tome stuffed with glossaries, maps, charts, tables, timelines, and diagrams. Anything that would unlock the secrets of how to construct realities, how to build worlds...

While selecting my current batch of reading material entirely out of the Young Adult section, I also considered how much of the books I still like are classified as "young adult" or "juvenile" or whatever. You know, fantasy and science fiction, historical novels, comics, animation, graphic novels, illustrated stories, mythology, folklore, fantasy art books and the like. I find that interesting, in a sociological way. Gee, am I juvenile? I prefer to think I just haven't let my imagination, my sense of wonder and sense of humor, and my visual sensibility ossify. As Berke Breathed says, "It's never too late to have a happy childhood."

Comments

[janabard.livejournal.com]

Yes! That was one of my biggest gripes as a kid, that I couldn't take home any of the books from the reference section!

My problem with the "Juvenile"/"Adult" labeling of books is that it's one-way; defined by the presence or absence of material that's considered "too much" for kids-- too sexy, too violent, too psychological, too wordy, etc. But George MacDonald's "Phantastes" is full of adult concepts related to life and death, ethics and responsibility, philosophy and *gasp!* sex. And I found that book in the juvenile section when I was a kid, loved it, and have grown up with it. When I re-read it from time to time, I'm always discovering new concepts... but because it has FAIRIES and a low smutty-word content, the book will always be considered "juvenile".

[corvideye.livejournal.com]

Have you ever read Le Guin's essay "Why Americans are Afraid of Dragons"? It's a really brilliant examination of the ghettoization of fantasy in America.

All the truly great children's books delve right into those meaty concepts... which is what makes our culture's delineations so peculiar. (What's really random is which comics the Eugene Library puts in the YA comic section, and which ones they put in the "adult" section up with the other fiction!)

I wish the library had had the young adult section when I was one! But I'm certainly having fun with it now.

[katanubis.livejournal.com]

If you're a "weirdo" because you love reference books, then you join a large crowd of SCA folks. And it's one thing to grow up, but that doesn't mean you have to grow old about it. You can be an adult and still have fun.

I'm still reading reference materials. Right now it's a sourcebook on references to the feminine construct of 16th C feminism in England. (It's also one of the most boring reference books I've picked up in a long time. I'm going to be *so* glad when I'm done with it. I'm also *so* glad that I didn't live in the late 16th C England.)

[corvideye.livejournal.com]

Well, naturally the people I hang out with are of like mind! The amateur anthropologist in me just gets a kick out of observing our atypical norms.

come to think of it, it's funny that as a kid I liked "grown up" books like reference works, and as an adult I like "juvenile" stuff AND reference books. But then in general I tend to want society not to be so insistent on drawing boundaries... Some books can be enjoyed at any age.