Welcome to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Children's Room!

Ms. Clara Webber was the first children's librarian of Pomona Public Library. A long time correspondent with Mrs. Laura Ingalls Wilder, she was instrumental in having the Children's Room named in honor of Mrs. Wilder on May 25, 1950. Today, we house the original hand written manuscript for the novel Little Town on the Prairie. Every February, we host the Laura Ingalls Wilder Sociable in honor of Mrs. Wilder's February 7th birthday.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Traveling to Spencer, Iowa

Hello young Pomonans! I left my house Friday morning at 7:00am and drove to Ontario International Airport to our next town east of us, Ontario, California. I didn't take a picture of the airport as you have probably been there or will be there. I flew U.S. Airways from Ontario to Phoenix, Arizona. I had an hour lay over and then flew Phoenix to Omaha, Nebraska. I chose Omaha over Des Moines, Iowa because according to Map Quest it was 7 minutes shorter to drive! I landed about 5:00pm, rented a car from Enterprise and drove the 3 hours to Spencer.

When I rented the car a young man helped me do the paperwork. He was very friendly and asked where I was going. I tried to be evasive but he pressed me. Finally I said that I was going to Spencer, Iowa to go to a book signing. I told him the author wrote about their library cat. He looked up suddenly at me and said, "Dewey?" Yes, Dewey. How famous is this cat? Very.

I drove up to Spencer in the dark. I'd love to say it went perfectly but I made a left instead of a right at hwy 175, OK? I figured it out fairly soon and turned around. Do you know what it is like to make a U turn on a dark country highway? It's terrifying!

At 9:00pm I made it into Spencer. Hooray! I was all excited about being there and I went to register at the hotel. I remembered how friendly the Enterprise car guy was and decided to make conversation with this lady. I mean she is the first Spencer person I met. She must be friendly, right? I asked her if she ever met Dewey. She thought a minute and said, "Do you mean the CAT?" Yes, I nodded my head. She said, "No I never met him. Did you came here for THAT?" Nodding my head I got out of there. Shoot! I guess not everyone's a fan. I wonder if she was the lady that threatened to bring her cow into the library if they didn't get rid of Dewey. It wouldn't surprise me.

Next installment: Spencer Public Library.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Nice post.I like it very much.
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lauran

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Anonymous said...

I think you are right! You should have said "are you lady with the cow?," and then if she gives you the "huh?" look, say "the authors wrote about you in the book!" And most probably, she has never read the book. But then I wouldn't want it to backfire on Deweys fans.(But then she might READ the book, and if she is just one mean lady, I can see her taking credit for being the "cow lady", just like the people who "confessed" to dropping poor Dewey in the drop box! On a another note, I nominate a White House CAT, instead of a dog for the new president's girls, and since the book opened near this years election, it should be a little fluff of a orange kitten (Ok, it would be nice if they named him Dewey!)My only concern...are there non-allergic orange cats??

Anonymous said...

Me again. I had no idea that there was a library with a "Laura Ingals Wilder" room...and with her original papers. Someone sent me this site, and I thought it was because he had read my review of Dewey in Amazon.com, where I had compared "Dewey" to the magic of Ms. Wilders series of children's books, and predicted it would become a classic. This way before I knew Dewey was high on the prestigious book lists.

Ms. Lois said...

Lauran,

Thank you!

Cindy,

It's nice to hear from another Dewey/Wilder fan! I was captivated by Laura's books when I was in elementary school. Dewey's story captivated me when I first saw the cover of the book.

And...I agree with you that there should be a white house cat. Socks shouldn't be the last one!

Thanks for commenting.