May 30, 1431, Joan de Arc was burned at the stake. This is significant to our family.
Fast-forward a few years to the early 1990’s and a rising third grader. During the summer, my son discovered Joan of Arc—through a video game, I recall—and his was intrigued.
He came to me, asking if there were any books about Joan de Arc. Our home housed an extensive library even then, but we had no books about the young heroine. So, per our custom, we grabbed our library cards and headed to our local public library. He had been a library cardholder for several years. Getting his first library card was a family event, something we tied to our town opening a new library.
Our local library did not have a children’s book on Joan of Arc. I guess children’s book people in those days thought it was too scary for impressive little minds to read about a girl being burned at the stake.
Not deterred, we searched the adult section and found a suitable book. I read the book to my son since it was beyond his reading level, and we completed the book before school began again.
First day of third grade, we arrive to find a big poster board standing outside the classroom, bearing instructions to “Write the name of your favorite book you read this summer.” He did, and I laughed, thinking, “Yeah, sure, his teachers will believe this one.”
That day continues to elicit a smile from me almost 30 years later whenever I think about it. But, I love the mind of that little boy whose interest was sparked and who wanted to learn more.
This experience tells me video games are not all bad. They contain a lot of “teachable moments,” so to speak.
I love that my son’s go-to for more information was books. He once said that he had been raised in an intellectual household. We laugh at that, too! What he was really saying was that our house was full of books, and we never questioned purchasing more. We attended library events, author signings, readings and theatre performances based on books.
Having a library card was a big deal to him. He didn’t know it then, but he had found the doors to his world. He still drops by that very library occasionally when he’s in the area. And one of the first things this 19-year-old son did while settling in as a college student in Boston, was to go to the infamous Boston Public Library and get a library card.
What a tribute to a child’s curiosity!
That little boy is now a man with a grownup version of that curious mind. He reads voraciously, loves words and writes.
I hope Joan knows this.
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