Books surrounded me as a child. In my bedroom, they rested in several wooden bookshelves, with one nearly 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide, and a second half as tall. My mother had painted them lavender! I loved them!

As a child, I was surrounded by books. And they rested upon glorious lavender bookshelves! It was a magical place to read my way into other worlds and lives.

Most furniture in our home was maple, mahogany, or oak. Stained. Solid or intricately inlaid. Several cute little corner bookcases brought additional magic touches of lavender to my room. Perhaps, periwinkle is a better description, but no matter, the color was perfect!

Many of my first books were hand-me-downs from my older brother. One series in particular absolutely opened my eyes to the world. It was written and illustrated by Czech writer and artist, Miroslav Sasek, and the early ones included This is Paris, This is London, This is Rome, and This is New York. The first of the series was published in 1959, and the planned series of three books grew to include a total of 18, with the final one published in 1974. Beginning in 2003, several were revised, facts were updated, and the books were brought back into print, a testament to their classic presentations of many cities around the world.

Even before I could read the words on the pages, the wonderful illustrations of this series opened my eyes to lands and people I never dreamed existed. I saw what it was to imagine, and what books could share with me. This was a gift! Lavender or periwinkle bookshelves only made my reading corner that much more cozy. As a wonderful sequel to this story, I share with you something else: these very bookcases became part of my children’s childhood rooms, and led the way to magical worlds.