“Martha Washington, my babysitter, godmother and savior all rolled up into one, taught me how to read when I was 2 1/2 by giving me a nickel to read a road sign, a cereal box, or a page of a book. After that, you couldn't keep me out of the library. An only child of much older, mostly checked out parents with a 68-year-old (Martha) as my best friend, the library was the place I could live any life, sail any sea, embark on any adventure. And the atlases! I could then, and still do, spend hours with my nose buried in a book of maps. To this day, when the holidays roll around, the first thing I decide is what thick book I am going to read, so that I can have one foot in the holiday chaos, and the other in some far-flung adventure. I have been to 68 countries in my lifetime, but I went to all of them for the first time at the library.”