A library book in Maryland is getting national attention after a little girl’s love for the book turned into its own story.
Anita Vassallo, the acting director of Montgomery County Public Libraries in Maryland, loves a good story.
This month, she read the children’s book The Postman for the very first time, after getting a copy of it in the mail.
The person who sent the book: Mora Gregg, who checked the book out from the library back in 1946, when she was just 2 years old.
Mora Gregg and her family moved to Canada before she could return it. While cleaning recently, she found the book she’s had all these years.
“Probably when I was dusting the books and came across it and was rummaging a bit because it had slipped behind some other books,” Gregg recalls.
After finding the neglected piece of her childhood, Gregg decided to return the book to the library 73 years later.
“I’m not getting any younger and I didn’t want it to get thrown away or lost or anything to happen,” Gregg says.
Gregg mailed the book back to the library with a note inside, joking how she refused to let it go because she loved it so much.
The story provided a surprise ending to Vassallo, who also joked about the book’s return.
“We don’t charge fines on children’s books, so no matter how old a kid’s book is when it comes back to us, there’s no charge,” Vassallo says.
