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."