Back when I was 14, my parents looked into homeschooling because of some health issues my little sister had. I expressed an interest in also being homeschooled, but they said we’d have to wait until we got our tax return because they had spent a lot of money on my sister’s curriculum. My reply to that was, “Who needs a tax return and who needs curriculum? Aren’t there enough books at the library?” We had a library just a couple blocks away and what I said made sense to my parents, so after Christmas I got a library card and didn’t go back to school. It was the best thing that ever happened to me.

I had something more valuable
Than a university degree–
I had a wise librarian
And a local library.
And locked up in my spirit,
Curiosity untamed,
My mother set me free from school
And I walked down Library Lane.

There were bookshelves to the ceiling
And a million mysteries–
The stories of 10,000 lands
Now opened up to me.
And I found my place in science 
And I sailed though history,
And the wise librarian smiled
As she shared a book with me.

What do you want to learn now, child?
What do you want to be?
The pages are the treasure troves
And this card is the key.
So I filled my sack with freedom
And a dozen new best friends.
I savored every story;
I wished each one would never end.

I read my way through worlds
That I never knew could be.
I discovered whole new cures
And I was rescued from the sea.
I pitched my tent on mountain tops
And I learned to watch the stars
I paged through Egypt’s Secrets
And I traveled wide and far.

And I, because a fighter, 
A writer, and a queen,
I discovered galaxies
That had yet to be seen.
Old friends just passed me by,
In a yellow bus each day the same,
With my pack of books, I waved goodbye
And I turned to walk down Library Lane.

And I never sought a teacher
Or a classroom in a school–
I had a local library
And I knew I was no fool.
So satisfy curiosity’s fire
To research, think and dream.
To seek jewels and reach higher
I began to spread my wings. (click Page 2 to continue reading)