A discarded Little Golden Book helped Elle Dominquez learn to read and fostered a lifelong love of books.
She honors that experience with a collection of more than 1,000 of the books.
Moran resident Dominquez shared her story Thursday evening at Iola Public Library. A display of her vintage book and toy collection is available in the lobby, and she will read Christmas stories from Little Golden Books at the library at 2 p.m. on Dec. 16.
She was just 4½ years old in 1944, during the World War II era, when she discovered her first book.
Though her family was very poor and couldn’t afford books, she already was developing an interest in reading.
One day, her mom brought home a book from her job of cleaning and doing laundry. It was a Little Golden book, “Tootle,” which had been discarded. She gave it to her daughter.
“I couldn’t believe someone would have something this marvelous and threw it away,” Dominquez recalled.
She read the book every chance she got.
“That was the beginning of me wanting to read and love books,” she said.
She dug through trash to find old Life magazines and anything else she could read. Then she met a woman who suggested she visit a library.
Dominquez had never heard of such a place.
You mean, there were books for free?
She found a small library in the California city where she lived, but discovered she was allowed to read only books deemed appropriate for her age. At 5 years old, her reading comprehension was way beyond those books.
Not only that, the library required a parent to accompany her.
Dominquez got creative. Polio was a common fear at the time, so she forged a note from her mother, claiming the woman had polio and giving the little girl permission to check out any book she liked.
It worked.
“I invented a story,” Dominquez said. “Then I would take the books home to read in secret. I would write down words I didn’t know and go back to the library to look them up.”
DOMINQUEZ didn’t start collecting books and toys until much later, when she was an adult with a family of her own.
She became quite serious about collecting, and researched the history of Little Golden Books. Some of the books are valuable. Most are not worth anything but nostalgia.
And everywhere she goes, she meets people eager to share their memories of their first books.
