Christian Bookmobile Novels

Copyright 2013 Sidney W. Frost

Many years ago, while a student at the University of Texas, my friend Rollo Newsom helped me get a job as a bookmobile driver at the Austin Public Library. Although I was assigned to work with several librarians, one of my favorites, Jean Siedo, was a lot like Liz in Where Love Once Lived. Or, should I say Liz is a lot like Jean? Both did more for the patrons than a librarian was expected to do.

I started writing a novel about my experiences on the bookmobile in the style of Suds in Your Eye by Mary Lasswell, but quickly learned I didn't know how.

Much later, after a number of writing classes, I started writing Where Love Once Lived. It was to be a Christian novel along the lines of Jan Karon's Mitford Series. I saw a chance to use the bookmobile to make the locale in my book smaller, like the fictional town of Mitford, and more manageable than Austin, Texas. As it turned out, one third of the scenes take place on the bookmobile.

In The Vengeance Squad, Liz, the bookmobile librarian in Where Love Once Lived is now the director of library services. When Chris and Tex's van is damaged by gunfire in El Paso, Liz offers them the use of Brian's bookmobile for a trip to Galveston. It is wheelchair ready for Tex and has an Internet connection for Chris.

You'll have to read the book to find out why, but the bookmobile sits unused in a parking lot in Galveston while Chris and Tex are in jail. Liz travels by bus to Galveston to bail them out. When they learn the killers are in Houston, Chris tries to get Liz to fly home, but she insists on going with them. So the bookmobile is back in action, with Liz aboard. Luckily it's not damaged this time.

In Love Lives On, though, the bookmobile is nearly destroyed. I can't tell you how without spoiling the story for you.

In The Vengeance Squad Goes to England, I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the bookmobile. It would be too expensive to ship it to London to help Liz, Chris, and Tex track down an international thief. However, I see on the Internet that bookmobiles are more popular in England than in the states. So, we should be able to find one to use while there.

At the end of Love Lives On, Karen and Brian talk about moving to Sun City in Georgetown, Texas and taking the bookmobile with them.

Let me know what you think about this use of bookmobiles. 

Bookmobile Memories

Recently, while rummaging through some old files, I ran across this letter to the editor in the June 17, 1998 issue of the Austin American-Statesman:

The June 12 article about bookmobiles by Mike Cox brought back some wonderful memories of when I worked as a part-time driver in the early 1960s while attending UT. We also were responsible for stocking books, checking out books, keeping the generator going for light and air conditioning that sometimes worked and cleaning up.

We went to schools, retirement homes and several small towns and communities outside the city limits. We set up shop at locations where branch libraries were eventually built.

The librarian I worked with mostly, Jean Siedo, made the job a pleasure. She knew the regulars on our route and selected books from the main library stacks for them. She delivered books to the rooms of some of those who were not physically able to come to the bookmobile. She treated everyone with respect, regardless of age, race or economic situation. She encouraged and counseled when needed. A few times I saw her give food and money to children who had little. I'm sure that was not part of her job description, but I respected her for everything she did.

Sometimes I wish we still had bookmobiles.

Sid Frost

I had forgotten about that letter to the editor. I wish I had reviewed it before I started writing Where Love Once Lived. If I had, I could have added more details about how my character helped others to the point where she was surprised with a special gift from her patrons. Also, I may have used a different name for the character. I used Liz Siedo, and I wouldn't want anyone to think the fictional character was really the live person Jean Siedo. Even though their actions to their patrons were similar, I made up the rest.

Have you met someone like Jean Siedo who impressed you the way she did me?

Yankee, Go Home

While searching through some old files, I found this letter I wrote to the editor of the Austin American-Statesman. The tear sheet didn't show the date, but based on my age and the reference to a May 8 news item, it had to be 1981. Here is what I wrote:

As a 46-year-old native of Austin, I would like to apologize to Mr. and Mrs. James Michener for the actions of two Austin drivers. According to the May 8 Houston Chronicle, James Michener and his wife were told to go home (referring to their Pennsylvania car tags) on two separate occasions while driving in Austin.

We used to have a slogan here, "Austin, the friendly city." I wonder what happened to it?

Sid Frost

Reading this now, nearly 30 years later, I wonder if the reason the Micheners were told to leave town might be because of Mrs. Michener's race. In Where Love Once Lived I included a marriage between a young couple, one black and one white, and how this marriage affects their parents. I have no first-hand information about mixed marriages, but I've always had an interest in equality and what it would be like if race didn't matter.

How about you? Do you think we'll ever have racial equality in this country?

Publishing a Neighborhood Magazine

I'm often asked "When did you first become interested in writing?"

My earliest memory of writing is when my sister, Barbara Cagle, decided we would publish a neighborhood magazine. We were living on Pete's Path in Austin at the time, so I had to be about twelve years old. She had written and produced some neighborhood plays several years before this when we lived on Josephine Street in South Austin.

But, my involvement as a writer didn't occur until the magazine phase. By publish, keep in mind that the magazine was handwritten and each copy was handwritten as well. So there wasn't a wide distribution and the magazine only lasted for a summer. When school started we were too busy to continue the publishing endeavor. But I remember getting to write and I remember the encouragement from Barbara.

She told me I had to keep a journal of all the movies I went to see so we could include movie reviews in the magazine. I got a spiral notebook and on one side I pasted the ad for the movie clipped from the newspaper. On the other side was the movie review itself. I wish I still had that spiral notebook. It was lost in a heavy rain that flooded my basement bedroom years later while I was away in the Marine Corps. I lost all my precious books in that storm, but that's a story for another time.

I had the writing bug from then on. Aptitude tests showed an interest in creative writing, but my school counselors said I should think of it as a hobby since few people made a living from writing. So, I ended up majoring in computer science and wrote for the fun of it.

I took a correspondence class on writing short stories. One was published in Navy Magazine. Much of the writing I did was for work. When the boss learned I could put two sentences together and make sense, I was called on to do the reports, apply for grants, and all sorts of writing.

I wrote a computer book with my lawyer boss, James Dunlap, called Automated Law Office Systems. It was published by West Publishing.

I think writers have a need to write. My sister is still writing. She had a funny article published in the Sunday magazine of a Houston paper and she has placed in several writing contests as well.

Dr Pepper Malts and Other Pleasant Memories

As a teenager, one of my jobs was as a soda jerk at Renfro’s Drugs on 35th Street. It was next door to Lou Sweet’s Grocery Store, where I worked through high school and my first year at the University of Texas.

I got the job at Renfro's because my parents knew or was related to someone who worked for the company. This friend or relation was an accountant, I believe, and he and his family lived on the second floor of the company's store on South Congress across from Fulmore Junior High School. We visited them there a few times.

I made hamburgers and sandwiches, and mixed a variety of drinks. For fountain drinks such as Coca Cola and Dr Pepper, we would squirt in a concentrated syrup and then add carbonated water. We also made malts, shakes, and floats. The only flavors on the menu for malts were chocolate, vanilla and strawberry. One day when I wasn't too busy, I created a new malt for myself that became my all-time favorite: a Dr Pepper malt.

Our malts were made with only the best ice cream. Milk was added to give it the right consistency. For my new invention I replaced the milk with half and half cream. There were probably tons of calories in that drink, but no one thought about that back then. Mmm.

I'd forgotten about that time in my life until back in 2010 Celeste and I had a long weekend at a B and B in Glen Rose, Texas. We drove from there to Dublin since I love Dr Pepper and it was only about forty miles away.

Dublin Bottling Works Museum
March 27, 2010

Back then, Dublin was where you could get Dr Pepper made with Imperial pure cane sugar instead of the high fructose stuff normally used in sodas.

It was fun visiting the combination museum and old time fountain. I told the man behind the fountain about the Dr Pepper malt I had invented, and he said they make them all the time. I ordered one and the memories poured in. I was a teenager again. I savored that drink and thought of Austin the way it was in the fifties.

Dublin Dr Pepper is not readily available any more following an agreement with Snapple who now owns the brand and the secret recipe, but the museum is there and they might even make you a Dr Pepper malt.

For more information see: http://www.dublinbottlingworks.com/ and http://www.texasmonthly.com/preview/2012-03-01/feature5.