What "Going Back to School" Meant for Me

"Did we get any mail today? Are the books here yet?"
 Not your typical back-to-school questions, am I correct? Yet these were mine as a child.
 School was great fun for me. It meant lots of books, researching bygone eras until I daydreamed of Romans and Carthaginians, lots and lots of math, and English. Most of all, it meant books.
 I can remember when the UPS man came to the door with large brown boxes stuffed with books. I could scarcely wait until my mom dragged them to her room and unboxed them.
 Once she cut the tape, my hands were in the boxes first, picking up every book, studying the back covers and flipping through the pages. My mom explained to me that these would be part of my literature program that year.  I couldn't believe it. Could I read them all now?
 It disappointed me when she said I had to wait until school started. She further explained that I couldn't read them all at once and I had to answer questions as I read.
 This would dampen most children's hearts, but I was and still am, a book wyrm. (Yes. Book wyrm or book dragon. Whatever you wish.) Answering questions while reading, meant that every day was a treasure hunt spent searching for clues in my "treasure map."
  If nothing else, school gave me a love for reading and a strong ambition to discover the treasure lying in every book I read.