Once Upon a Library - Library Bookmobile Mural
Art by - Allison Pence
Mural Stories
Prologue: Books Move Your Imagination
Luke Beekman - Adult Writer - Fiction
Once upon a time, there was a story…
Because stories have existed since the very first beginning.
And once upon a story, there was a library… Because libraries were very much needed.
Mankind had so many stories to share, we needed to build a place to put them all there.
And once upon a library… there was a whole world, a whole vast universe of potential in stories.
The purpose of libraries is evidential, it’s there to give facts credential, the access to knowledge, essential.
And so we celebrate how Books Move our Imaginations, and as a community we come together to let these Mural Stories unfold!
Libraries show us there are always new important things to learn and new perspectives to find.
As familiar as a chime. Telling stories and creating art have always been important to mankind.
This is the first page, and the first stage, and when we finish reading here,
Just so we’re all clear, when the chime will ring, and together we will all turn the pages.
Together, we will move to the next mural. With voices of writers and storytellers of all ages.
So thank you to the writers, readers, and listeners. Thank you artists for your incredible vision.
Thank you librarians for upholding your mission. Shh. Let’s keep the imagination moving.
So let’s start by opening the first few pages of these Mural Stories, bursting at the seams.
Because a library and all its walls are a place built for our ideas, our imaginations, our dreams.
Once Upon a Library
Luke Beekman - Adult Writer - Fiction
Books move our imaginations in ways that need our further investigation. Our higher inspiration!
Words may come like a cello string, a sensation, as daydreams follow like a melody, where our hearts go soaring like a song. The imagination is a hot air balloon rising above the cloud as our favorite characters make us proud, as they see new perspectives. Books move us all along!
But who planted the beanstalk that let us climb so high?
Was it Jack and the Beanstalk that taught us how to unexpectedly pick up the slack?
Let’s take that unfortunate bean trade, plant it in the shade. Let’s discover bravery as we rise!
Do you see flowers, glowing light, always blooming at our feet when we read. To read and to imagine is to know what it feels to experience the breeze. Something you feel that no one else sees. This Call of the Wild, these Great Expectations is what we need, classic stories take heed!
The Odyssey awaits, where epic creatures might stand to test our knowledge & seal our fates!
Rise up and fly into that colorful sky, like Peter Pan. Fly in the sky of your imagination anytime!
Dive deep, into a sea of pages, as Moby Dick! Where man takes on a whale as big as the sea!
Escape into the Secret Garden, take a step with Mary Poppins, take a ride with Black Beauty!
Or just surf an amazing web with Charlotte, as you discover that Neverending Story!
Once Upon a Library! Books have a way of opening up and setting your mind free.
Art and stories are a brilliant phenomenon. We start with Once Upon, and then go on-and-on! With the help of folklore, our story abilities grew like never before. This big little library of mine. How you continue to shine. You’re a safe place, created for all readers, all dreamers, and all the imaginations who might think to walk through your doors. The library always feels welcome and if you’re quiet, you know you’ll be treated quite fine. By design, the foreshadowing gave us all the signs. Step into a Time Machine with me. Let’s go back into local history. Once Upon a Library, this very big library, was planted in Mansfield the year 1889, with 700 books. And so now it looks like it grew a great fable, putting books on the table, for generations at a time. And who knew how much it would thrive? As we plant and harvest the dreams of our Richland Public Library like magic beans. Wondering what it might yield, out here in Mansfield… when we plant a little red bookshelf, or put a library on wheels. Moving imaginations across fantastic landscapes, where books provide the most magical of escapes, Once Upon a Library.
The library holds a very special copy of Mice and Men, where a quiet book mouse named Booker likes to read! Booker the mouse loves a quiet nook, and believes that librarians commit the ultimate deed, trying to keep the noise down is bravery! “Shh! Can’t you see it’s story time!” Booker nods to where the candle of inspiration is lit. Inspiration glows like a candle that will forever burn. When we read books, the clock is almost near-stop, as the hours melt away and pages continue to turn. A library is a house for all these things, and this library’s garage doors are proof! We create a space on the bookshelf for so many imaginations, inspirations, and truth!
The Next Page
Eli Lewis - Youth Writer - Poetry
In a book,
With a hook,
To pull you in,
There may be a win.
Or maybe a mage,
Within the next page.
A secret it might withhold,
Something that shouldn’t be told,
Within the next page.
Dragons
Jaycie O. - Teen Writer - Poetry
Dragons are not the only beasts God forgot to make, and which, therefore, man had, himself, to invent. The Phoenix, the Griffen, the Sphinx, the Unicorn.
And such nightworks as the Vampire, and the Werewolf, are all in the nature of the Imagined Kingdom.
And what good, in the long run, is Dominion. Unless it is given over all necessary beasts, real and imagined?
Therefore the Dragon, which if it is true that man must imagine at least one shape moving alive.
For every dream in him imagines that dark in the jungle of dendrites.
One man must run from, be thrown once upon a time, and out of which any man may think to marry a princess.
All these are realities, but if you actually see a Dragon, check carefully which reality you have been living in.
To do so may be very much to your advantage.
Come to the Library of Life
Brandie Johnson - Adult Writer - Poetry
come in, come in.
Quietly nestle down where fantasy and reality meet
Shelves lined with adventure, mystery and delight
beckoning the mind to take flight
Between worn pages and tattered covers
upon cool breezes and brisk mountain peaks
Down winding, roaring rivers
into dank, damp caves
Discover wonders with each turning page
Can you find yourself here?
Mirrored in characters brazen and proud
or whose personality resembles a shroud
Hidden so perfectly between this chapter and the next
finding the messages written between the lines
With child-like wonder you dive deep
Could this be the journey you seek?
come in, come in.
Imagination
Raney M. - Teen Writer - Poetry
Imagination, the desperation of the mind.
Fighting to be set free.
Never to be left behind.
Colors and shapes, lines and swirls,
Blending together, fabricating worlds.
Each to its own, personal styles,
No limit to the mind, it stretches many miles.
Art a ship, sailing us to sea.
Emotions displayed, as we must embrace, to be.
Imagination, The Instinct of Mind.
Create what you feel and see.
You may never know what you will find.