Mere Books, My Treasures

With a meager salary received from teaching back home in the Philippines many years ago, I started buying books from bookstores, not second hand ones, but brand new ones. I received the book The Giving Tree, which became my favourite, and I knew in my heart that the cost was equivalent to our one month's salary, that's how low we were paid that time.

Whenever I get an opportunity to visit Manila, my suitcase will be filled with books. I fondly remember buying them from a bookstore in Makati where the prices of Scholastic books were much cheaper than others. I always go there but in one of my visits, I was being followed by a salesgirl as I pick one book at a time until I had a pile of around fifteen books. Her shadowing irritated me so I left all the books and bade farewell to that bookstore.

I became a fan of Book Wagon, a specialty store owned by a friend. I discovered one bookstore along Boni High Street but my first and only visit wasn't a pleasant one. Three employees of the store were chit chatting and when I went to their small group to ask for a new copy of a book I need to purchase, their smirks were so obvious. What bad service for such a posh bookstore!

After accumulating more than a thousand in my collection, I discovered a haven for second hand books at the Weekend Market here in Bangkok. The owner of the shop usually sold the books for a mere fifty to a hundred baht when I started buying them. Later, he doubly raised the prices as he found out that a lot of people had been telling him the books were so cheap. Lesson in economics!

There had been an intense interest to collect Caldecott Medal Winner books and I had around 40 titles in a span of 77 Caldecott years. I started collecting Dr. Seuss and even got two nice versions from Beijing when I was there, in Chinese Mandarin. I completed the Elephant and Piggie series of books and I had nineteen of them, some were given as gifts. I am eyeing collecting Robert Sabuda's pop-up ones and I already had four at present but they are pricey.

Whenever I am asked what I want as a present, I always say a book. I got an Australian book and a Spanish one about Christmas. I received one from France and a beautiful book about friendship from Canada. I also have signed books by famous authors such as Jeannie Baker, Julia Wirdheim, and Janice Santikarn to name a few. 

While dusting off the shelves, I recalled why one of my books from Malaysia was enclosed inside a zip lock bag. I got the book for 39.99 RM some fifteen years ago which was a luxury at that time. My last one came from Germany which has the same theme and costs me thirteen hundred baht.

Books are my friends. They are primarily a source of great ideas and information as I teach young children. I am so pleased to have grown as a person surrounded by books. They are my priceless treasures.