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My goal, as soon as I was introduced to my public library was to read every
single book they had about horses.
I come from a relatively small town, so I was actually able to meet that goal.
And then my mother took me to the city library in Rochester, New York,
and walked into that building
which was the size of a city block and I was
completely enchanted. I wasn't overwhelmed, thinking, "Oh no, I'll never meet my goal,"
I thought,
"This is fantastic
You'll never ever ever get to the
end of all the books there are to read."
So it was great fun.
It was a big deal to get a hardcover book as a gift when I was a kid and
we each got one hardcover book as a gift every Christmas.
So the library was where you went every week to get five, six, seven, eight, nine
books to bring home. It
didn't just foster my reading, it created
and fed my entire reading life.
And as an adult and as a playwright, I've use libraries, which are the most
incredible resource, to do all
research for most of my
plays and musicals.
When my daughter was little, we would go every week just like I did as a child
and now I use it as my resource center for all of those work that I do
both in terms of wanting to stay abreast of other authors who
I'm following, and in terms of
turning to them for all the help I need in my research needs when I'm doing
something based on history.
[Favorite librarian?] Oh God, yes I do. Oh God, I have a couple, of course. I would have to
name Linda Tar at the Gloucester Public Library and
Cindy, whose last name I can't remember.
They have just been
an incredible resource for me and so generous with their time and their
expertise. [On budget cuts] I think it's the craziest,
craziest of all possible budget cuts during a recession
when the library becomes an even more important resourceful for
anyone who does not have a computer in their home,
who is trying to search for a job.
I really feel that libraries are the center of our cultural and civic life
and this is not the time to be pulling away from
those wonderful ideals.
[On censorship] I'm really surprised that that's still... I shouldn't be... I'm really surprised that
that still happens and goes on.
I think it
generally, or I hope, it continues to backfire for those who are trying to
ban books. Because it only, as a kid, if ever I was
not allowed to read a book, of course that's exactly what I wanted to read.
I have memories of reading "The Catcher in the Rye" when I was too
young to understand it... with a flashlight.
So I don't think it's a smart thing and I think that...
I think we live in a free country so I don't understand it.
"Alice Bliss" is a coming of age story about a fifteen year old girl
whose father is in the reserves and deploys to Iraq.
And it's a classic story of a girl growing up,
but at the same time it tells the story of the war from the point of view
of those who are left behind and the children at home and how they're coping
with being without very important member of their family.