Page A3 / The Joan De Arc Crusader / Friday, December 24, 2021
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A Sahuaro Library sampler

By J. Bueker

     Ah, the Sahuaro School library. Arguably the single most important room in the entire institution (with the obvious possible exception of the cafeteria), the school library was ever a primary focus of attention for young Sahuaro bibliophiles such as myself.
     In this incomparable space my classmates and I spent countless hours digging through the card catalog, exploring the thousands of titles, researching topics, sitting at the tables and reading magazines, or simply goofing off a bit and enjoying a welcome if brief respite from the classroom routine. Each of my eight years at Sahuaro is indelibly strewn with warm memories of its legendary bibliotheca.
     Flash forward about three decades. Now a diligent collector of all things Joan De Arc, I encountered my first vintage Sahuaro library book on a shelf at a Goodwill thrift store in Peoria, of all places. Then one afternoon about two years later, while browsing at one of my favorite local used book stores – Books, over on Hatcher and 7th Ave. – I noticed in the children’s section a rather large cache of Washington School District library discards that had apparently been either sold or donated to the store. I spent the next half hour or so cherry picking the ones stamped “Sahuaro School Library.”
     However my most fruitful source for old Sahuaro library books turned out to be the annual used book sale the school once held in the cafeteria every spring. Much to my delight, the library would each year contribute a smattering of aging Sahuaro library discards for the sale, some dating back to the very earliest days of the school. From these varied sources I would ultimately assemble my own personal vintage Sahuaro library of well over a hundred books.
     And so now, as a nostalgic public service, I thought I might share a brief yet fond sampling of some of the more notable titles in my Sahuaro library, as follows:


Christmas in the Forest by Jan Wahl
Card Catalog: E / W / Wahl
Entered Sahuaro Library: (Unknown – probably mid-1960s)

     This sublimely eccentric little Christmas book captured my attention at a Sahuaro book sale one year and has emerged as one of my favorites in the collection. I break it out and delight in its contents every December without fail.
     The narrative carefully details the Yuletide activities of a remarkably precocious assembly of animals in some nameless forest. So devoted are these creatures to their Christmas celebration that each species has its own specifically assigned duties in the precisely orchestrated holiday festivity. The story culminates with the animals dancing together all night around the great fir tree they have decorated until the dawn of Christmas Day.
     The complete absence of any trace of humanity in Christmas in the Forest instills an eerily beautiful character and charm to the story. The tale is vividly enhanced by Eleanor Schick’s exceptional illustrations that seem to come alive on the page with movement and energy.


Minerals by Herbert Zim and Elizabeth K. Cooper
Card Catalog: 549 / Zi / Zim
Entered Sahuaro Library: (Rebound in 1966 – probably an original Sahuaro library book)

     Herbert S. Zim was a prominent and prolific author of children’s science books in the ‘50s and ‘60s, and I distinctly recall an extensive selection of his work gracing the non-fiction science section of the Sahuaro library. I was very excited to come across one of these volumes at a Sahuaro book sale and instantly snapped it up.
     For this particular exposition on minerals, Zim was assisted by fellow kid science author Elizabeth K. Cooper, herself an accomplished writer in the genre. Cooper’s most famous book is inarguably her classic Science in Your Own Backyard, published in 1958, about fifteen years after Minerals first appeared.
     Although I became well acquainted with Zim’s work while attending the school, I don’t remember ever perusing this particular volume on rocks and minerals, which is unsurprising as I was never terribly interested in this area of scientific inquiry. I instead enjoyed such Zim titles as The Universe, Dinosaurs, and Codes and Secret Writing. Nonetheless, I’m extremely pleased to have an example of this iconic author’s prodigious output in my Sahuaro library collection. His work was quintessential for its time.


Space Cat Visits Venus by Ruthven Todd
Card Catalog: F / To / Todd
Entered Sahuaro Library: September 1966

     Sahuaro School came into being at the dawn of the Space Age, and thus the library accordingly housed a prominent array of books related to the cosmos, fiction and non-fiction alike.
     I developed into something of an astronomy fanatic beginning in my fourth-grade year, devouring such Sahuaro library non-fiction titles as Mars and Beyond, The Stars by Clock and Fist, and The How and Why Wonder Book of Planets and Interplanetary Travel. I wasn’t into the space fiction so much, which is a pity since I would consequently overlook such gems as Space Cat Visits Venus.    
     Space Cat Visits Venus was an installment in the Space Cat book series by author Ruthven Todd, which included such titles as Space Cat, Space Cat Meets Mars and Space Cat and the Kittens. The books detail the exploits of Flyball, a highly adventurous anthropomorphic feline in the mold of Puss in Boots, who explores the solar system with his pal Colonel Fred Stone. Illustrator Paul Galdone complements the imaginative space-fantasy story with excellent drawings that are equal parts humor and whimsey.


The Long Secret by Louise Fitzhugh
Card Catalog: F / Fi / Fitzhugh
Entered Sahuaro Library: December 1968

     The unqualified literary highlight of my fifth-grade year at Sahuaro was unquestionably Miss Eden’s reading to the class of that mid-century milestone of children’s books, Louise Fitzhugh’s Harriet the Spy. I can still remember being so inspired by this classic novel that I went to bed with a flashlight one night to emulate Harriet’s behavior in staying up late and reading her books in bed after lights out. Unfortunately, my brother-roommate Charles immediately detected the light when I switched it on and he vociferously objected to the idea, forcing me summarily to abandon the scheme. I had somehow overlooked the fact that Harriet was an only child and thus able to get away with such shenanigans. Oh, and also, she was a fictional character.
     Harriet the Spy was perpetually checked out at the Sahuaro library of course, with a waiting list nearly as daunting as that for Charlotte’s Web. However, Fitzhugh also wrote a sequel to Harriet entitled The Long Secret – an enjoyable yarn, though certainly not in the same league with its famous predecessor. I discovered Secret in the library that same school year after searching the card catalog for alternative Fitzhugh titles and duly checked the volume out for my reading pleasure. About 40 years later, I came across the very same copy at a Sahuaro book sale. As soon as I got it home, I looked around for a flashlight.


Coronado and His Captains by Camilla Campbell
Card Catalog: 921 / C / Campbell
Entered Sahuaro Library: October 1961

     As I started ascending into the upper grades at Sahuaro, I began noticing the teachers sending us in groups to the library on a fairly frequent basis to “work on reports.” It wasn’t until I became a teacher myself many years later that I began fully to appreciate the true purposes behind this practice, which amounted to making us the librarian’s headache for an hour or so while our teacher could catch a breather and perhaps slip into the faculty lounge for a quick ciggie.
     I distinctly recall one such occasion when we were sent to the stacks to research Arizona history and I discovered a very cool volume on Coronado, the famous Spanish conquistador and explorer who was among the first Europeans to glimpse the Grand Canyon. Coronado and His Captains, written by Camilla Campbell in the 1950s, tells the tale in a simple but comprehensive storybook-style narrative with imaginative drawings by an artist named Harve Stein. I instantly recognized the book’s indelible cover illustration when I encountered it many years later at the Books bookstore.
     I can’t really remember now, but I’m guessing my Coronado report was probably stellar.


Shirley Temple’s Storybook by Shirley Temple (Josette Frank, Ed.)
Card Catalog: SC / Te
Entered Sahuaro Library: Not specified, but probably an original Sahuaro library book

     I’ve no previous recollection whatever of this particular volume, but it was such a remarkable find one year at the Sahuaro book sale that it must not go unmentioned. Beautifully illustrated by a distinguished array of artists, Shirley Temple’s Storybook comprises a collection of the famous child star’s favorite “fairy stories and tales of enchantment.” Included are such timeless classics as “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Sleeping Beauty,” “Rapunzel,” and “Rip Van Winkle,” alongside a handful of relatively obscure tales like “The Land of Green Ginger” and “The Wild Swans.”
     Storybook unquestionably dates to the earliest years at Sahuaro, and although it was rebound at some point, the book retains its charming dust-jacket cover illustration complete with a smiling Shirley in the center dressed as a princess. An absolute treasure from my favorite school library.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________JDA

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