On Wednesday, I attended the Selma Dallas County Public Library summer reading program’s petting zoo. Library director Becky Nichols said over 600 children came out and lined up in the heat to pet the animals. Little hands reached down, some in fear and some with too much enthusiasm, to pet chickens and roosters, bunny rabbits, a Shetland Pony and goats. The critters may seem usual to an adult but to these children, I know it sparked something in their imagination. To reward the children they were given a popsicle after waiting in line and sanitizing their hands.

Seeing the children try to catch a duck to give it a hug made some of my childhood memories come flooding back.

My first time inside the Selma-Dallas County Public Library was only a couple of weeks ago.

As Nichols led me through the different sections of the facility on a tour, I was, as she would say, “bitten by the library bug.” The children’s section of the library was incredible and hearing Nichols’ stories about her years there as a librarian made me want to just sit and pick her brain about all the wonderful things she has seen. I felt like a child all over again seeing some of my favorite books on the shelves and seeing the aquarium, and my favorite — the hamsters. I looked at those hamsters and the animal book section and knew that as a 7-year-old I would have begged my mom to take me there everyday. In fact I plan on going and just doing some puzzles and playing blocks at the library the next time my editor says a murder suspect is thought to be hiding out in Selma. That might be a fun vacation from reality.

But then Nichols handed me two very special things: my very own library card and a book to borrow that she thought I might enjoy. She handed me Kathryn Tucker Windham’s “Odd-Egg Editor.”

“Read it and let her speak to you through the pages,” Nichols told me.

And I did just that. I read on my front porch about Windham’s adventures as a new reporter and her love for covering odd and exciting stories. Stories about murder mysteries and watermelons that grew to be the size of cars.

In the journalism world today there is much doom and gloom about where the industry is headed next. My professors at Alabama often told me about how journalism today is very different than it used to be. Reading Windham’s book I realized that as a reporter, even though I tweet and update Facebook more than Windham did, I still can share in many of her experiences. Windham and I are ages apart yet I could still relate to her. She spoke to me through the book even though I did not have the privilege of ever meeting her in person.

I hope that just as I was inspired this week by reading an old book in the library that the children of Selma will get bitten by the same library bug. It is my hope for children that they will let their imaginations run wild when they read the “Eyewitness Books” series about ancient Egypt and animal behavior that they will learn something new. Maybe they will even decide to be a paleontologist after reading my favorite children’s book “Bootsie Barker Bites.”

I think that Nichols and the library staff will change a child’s life this summer by giving them a place to use their imagination at their incredible summer reading program that has something going on just about everyday.

I know that is what Nichols has given me with my library card and the special book she let me borrow. I was reminded by reading Windham’s book why I decided to be a journalist in the first place — I hope a child is reminded that they can be anything they want to be when read a book when they come to the library’s Sensational Selma Rainbow Summer.