This story is part of the June 2 edition of Sunday Life. See all 15 stories . When I was a child, I was a bit of a misfit at school.
I preferred reading books to playing sport so when I found my lack of ability at games had left me on the sidelines, I often retreated to the library. The librarian at my primary school got to know me and what I liked. I spent many contented hours reading the wonderful novels she recommended while my friends ran about in the playground.
Due to our woeful underfunding of public schools, many no longer have a dedicated library or librarian. Credit: ISTOCK I don’t regret a minute of it, and I remember the librarian at Chatswood Public School, Mrs Fienberg, with great affection. Her influence must have been powerful because one of her daughters is now a novelist and so am I.
Maybe there are more of her students who have written books, thanks to her enthusiasm for fiction, I don’t know, but I am very grateful for her encouragement. That’s one of the reasons I am devastated that, due to our woeful underfunding of public schools, many no longer have a dedicated library or librarian. What, I sometimes wonder, are bookish kids like me doing now at lunchtime? I am grateful that my grandson’s public school still has both, because he also likes to retreat to the quiet world of imagination sometimes, away from the hurly-burly of the playground.
My parents were also great readers, so our Saturday family outings were more often to the local municipal l.
