Edna Liggin
The Bernice News-Journal

An interest is being shown by several Linville girls in books about the handicapped and underprivileged, especially the blind. The story of Helen Keller has been an inspiration for decades but new is Van Wyck Brooks “Sketch for a Portrait”, excellent for young people. Other books that we have are “We Adopted Three” by Rose, “Rise Up and Walk”, by Walker, “Dogs Against Darkness”, by Hartwell, and “I Wanted to See” by Dahl.

Along the Tiger Bend route we learned “Aunt Betty” Edwards, beloved matriarch of this community had recently celebrated her 95th birthday, many paying her homage by calling, according to Mrs. W. E. Savage with whom we love to chat. Her current book interest is steamboats on the Mississippi and we left “Memphis in Dixie” with here.

A salute to our Bernice women readers who have organized a garden club. We hope to assist them with books for this project, beginning at a timely season for April 21-27 is National Garden Week. Won’t you observe the week by studying a book on gardening?

Rev. Collins, pastor of the Marion Methodist church, paused at the bookmobile last week to tell us he’d preached a sermon recently in which he contrasted good and bad literature. Some time ago we tried to help him prepare this sermon by supplying books pertaining to merits of good reading.

There is a high interest shown by our Bernice boys in books on fishing, hunting, guns, dogs, sports, and even trapping or any adventure story on these subjects, all of which are stimulating reading for teen-age boys. Have you ever heard of Ben Lilly? He once roamed the woods of Union Parish, hunting, fishing, and Frank Dobie has written his biography. He also wrote “The Mustangs” and “The Longhorns”. J. M. Johnson of Linville interested in trapping says “Trapping the Silver Beaver” by Niehus is an absorbing book.

We gained a new insight into what children think by listening to them talk among themselves. We’d thought a child’s book to complete and well-liked should have good illustrations, but a fifth grade boy said, “I don’t like books with pictures. I like to make them up in my own mind as I read the story.” A girl echoed, “I like to make up my own pictures about the story.

The Dabney family of Mississippi is still coming to life to readers through the pen of James Street. These include “Tap Roots”, “Promised Land”, “To-morrow is Forever,” and “Mingo Dabney”. Other readers are discovering the Whiteoak family of Canada of which Mazo De La Roche writes on enchantingly. Once you start, it’s hard to stop, says a reader at Haile who is struggling to keep them in chronological order.

Purely personal — Harry Cook, Jr. of Bernice to whom we took books on irrigation, won first place on his talk at the Marion F.F.A. meeting. Congratulations, Harry, Jr., as well as to (??????) Spearsville Home Ec. department graciously served us coffee in her building last Friday — Sammy Johnson, Bernice 8th grade boy, conscientiously sweeps the bookmobile for us every two weeks. We miss Jordon North since he moved from Linville to Texas, but his Science Fair exhibit along with others picked up at the different high schools, has drawn favorable comment while on display at the library at Farmerville.

Special requests now include lamps of all ages, “France and Brittany,” life story of Mary Baker Eddy, “Blue Camellia”, “The Nun’s Story”. The Philadelphian”. Out Downsville juniors are still very interested in biographies of pioneer Americans, while the young of Spearsville have recently become very Indian conscious.

Last but not least, is the realization that the Bible has a definite place on the bookmobile, especially in big print. One reader read one through twice while she had it checked out!

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