I had a literacy coach’s meeting on Friday and we talked about many things, but textual lineages was one that stuck with me. Your textual linage are those books that you read throughout your life, that spoke to you, changed you, shaped your identity of who you are.
I thought back to my early years and what books I remembered reading and liking. I came up dry. I grew up in the time of Dick and Jane readers so that basal text book certainly did not make the cut. I thought some more. I have taught 3rd, 4th and 5th grade and as teacher there are so many treasured books that I have loved and shared with my students over the years, but as a kid, I could not think of one single book in those grades that I read, much less loved.
And then it hit me. Charlie Brown. In the second half of 5th grade, I moved, from living with my father and step mother to living with my mother. My mother was and still is a reader and right away her weekly trips to the library, included dropping me off at the children’s section, while she went looking for new books for herself. Somehow, I am not sure if a librarian recommended it or I found it on my own, I discovered the bottom shelf by the window with all the Peanuts books. It was love at first sight. I sat and read while waiting for her to come back and fetch me. I had only known the Peanuts from the holiday specials, and now I could read all their antics, page after page. I empathized with Charlie Brown and his desire to be liked and understood. I appreciated Linus, his loyal friend. I did not like Lucy and her arrogance. And of course, I loved Snoopy and Woodstock.
When my mom came back, I dug out my new library card and checked out a book or two. I went back week after week, month after month reading and rereading those books, eventually trying out Garfield and Archie. From there I moved to chapter books and discovered having a favorite author, Judy Blume. I have read and loved so many books since then. But first, I thank you, Charlie Brown, for being my first book in my textual lineage. I have since bought my own copies of those Peanuts books and read them on days when I need a warm hug and a little laugh. You revealed to me, my identity as a reader, a lover ob books. Thank you, Charlie Brown!
Shout out for comics and graphic novels! Your memory helped me remember my own enthusiasm for the Sunday comics that were in color. I would have forgotten them if I were to trace my textual lineage. You illustrate your early library visits with such contagious affection, it’s hard not to be tossed back into own happy reader beginnings.