“When I have a little money, I buy books,” Dutch philosopher Desiderius Erasmus once famously said.
Erasmus would likely find a kindred spirit in Bonnie Anderson, a former classroom teacher and homeschool consultant from Minnesota. Only he might be slightly jealous. That’s because Mrs. Anderson’s current book collection stands around 33,000 volumes of children’s literature, a number so large that she and her husband John added a library to their home just to store them.
Background: Growing a Love for Books
The fact that Mrs. Anderson even enjoys reading is a bit of a miracle in itself, for as a child, she struggled with dyslexia. A loving and diligent parent, however, was one element that helped Mrs. Anderson overcome this hurdle. “My mom promoted reading a lot,” she said, noting that her mother often took her to story time at the small library in their Northwest Iowa town.
Annie Holmquist is a cultural commentator hailing from America's heartland who loves classic books, architecture, music, and values. Her writings can be found at Annie’s Attic on Substack.
