SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
SLJ Blog Network +
  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About/Contact
  • *Best New Books*
    • Annual Best Lists
  • Reviews
    • One Star Review
    • Nonfiction
    • Toon Reviews
  • Articles
    • Authors
    • Link Du Jour
  • Covers
    • Covering the Newbery
    • Cover Curiosity
    • Unfortunate Covers
  • News
    • Books on Film
    • Morning Notes
  • Newsletter

November 29, 2011 by Travis Jonker

The Captain and the Communists

November 29, 2011 by Travis Jonker   2 comments

A couple weeks ago I put out the ol’ all-call for interesting post ideas. Today, we have our winner. And it turns out to be a familiar face. I wrote about Canadian children’s librarian Lucas Maxwell a little while ago after learning of his genius idea for celebrating a library birthday. He ended up submitting a post, and it was funny, bizarre, and library-related. In short: everything I hoped for.

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

What follows is his true tale of The Captain and the Communists.

At the public library I once worked at there was a man that would come in almost every night. He was very small and thin and always wore a navy blue blazer with gold buttons and a white captain’s hat with a black bill and gold symbols on it.

He would come in and sit in the children’s section, quietly reading a few pages from the dictionary and then leave.

I never had any interaction with him whatsoever and only referred to him as “The Captain.”Then one evening we had a group that was representing our province’s Communist party come to the library for a meeting.

As I was assisting them set the room up for the meeting I heard a piano being played at the back of the room. I went back there and sitting at the very old and misused piano was “The Captain”, playing a tune that wasn’t very good but was so soft it didn’t grate on you either.

I approached him and said “I’m sorry sir, we don’t allow people to use this piano, there’s a meeting happening in a few minutes as well.”

He continued playing, but said to me “Are you the manager?”

I said “No.”  (Why I didn’t just say “yes” I’ll never know)

He just smiled and kept playing.

I then said: “Sir this room has been booked and the piano isn’t really for public use.”

He said: “Then why you got it here then?”

I said: “It’s just been here for over 30 years, but the point is -.”

He said: “No, the point is, you got a piano and I got time to play..”

And he continued to play. I left him alone for a few more minutes, deciding what to do. The manager was not working that evening and I didn’t feel like causing a huge scene and forcing the guy out for something so ridiculous.

Considering I had seen him at the library for close to year and this was the first time I had even spoken to him I decided to try a different route.

I approached one of the the local Communists, who happened to be sporting a stereotypically massive beard, and said to him: “Look, I’ve got an interesting situation here, there’s this guy, he’s in the meeting room you’ve booked and he’s playing the piano and won’t stop. He’s pretty much harmless, I mean, he usually just reads the dictionary and for some reason has picked this exact moment to play the piano, are you guys ok with having him in there?”

The Communist guy just shrugged and said  “I don’t care man, whatever.”

I said: “Awesome, thanks very much.”

And that was that, as I walked by the room later on I heard the heated, rowdy discussions and debates pertaining to the Communist agenda in our country while a man dressed as a sea captain tinkled softly on the keys of a rotten old piano that hadn’t been played in 30 years and I thought, it can’t get much weirder than this.

Filed under: Articles

SHARE:

Read or Leave Comments

About Travis Jonker

Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes reviews (and the occasional article or two) for School Library Journal and is a member of the 2014 Caldecott committee. You can email Travis at scopenotes@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter: @100scopenotes.

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

May 2022

2022 Books from American Indian Youth Literature Award Winners

by Travis Jonker

May 2022

Ditched Dewey? I Have an Oddly Specific Question for You

by Travis Jonker

May 2022

'This crap really fires me up' FRED GETS DRESSED Gets Challenged

by Travis Jonker

May 2022

2022 Books from APAA Winners

by Travis Jonker

April 2022

Book Vandalism or The Most Deeply Appropriate Thing I've Ever Seen?

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

One Star Review, Guess Who (#167)

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

Review of the Day: The Last Mapmaker by Christine Soontornvat

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

Tails of the Super-Pets | Review

by J. Caleb Mozzocco

Heavy Medal

Many May Suggestions: First Quarter Mock Newbery Possibilities

by Emily Mroczek-Bayci

Teen Librarian Toolbox

How I WILL PROTECT YOU Fills a Gap in Holocaust Education, a guest post by Danica Davidson

by Amanda MacGregor

The Classroom Bookshelf

Farewell From The Classroom Bookshelf

by Erika Thulin Dawes

The Yarn

Grant Snider Visits The Yarn!

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

Four Magical Middle Grade Novels for 'Encanto' Fans| Read-Alikes

Sports-Forward Books for Fans of the Movie "Space Jam: A New Legacy" | Read-Alikes

2020 All Star Read-Alikes: Three YA Picks for Fans of 'On My Block' on Netflix

Three Action-Packed Adventures for Fans of 'Spider-Man: No Way Home'

Three Interstellar Novels for Teens Watching 'The Mandalorian' on Disney+ | 2020 All-Star Read-Alikes

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. June Maxwell says

    November 30, 2011 at 8:57 am

    It just goes to show that the best stories are the ones that are from real life!

  2. Bonnie Hart says

    November 30, 2011 at 9:27 am

    To bad the Captain didn’t have Tennille with him. They could have played “Love Will Keep Us Together” and given the Communists something to think about!
    Good story Luke. Wish all libraries would take a page from your book. Keep observing and writing.
    Love, Aunt Bonnie

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

  • Author/Illustrator Blogs

    • Erin Stead Illustration
    • Hey, Rabbit!
    • James Preller's Blog
    • MATTHEWCORDELLBLOGS
    • Mo Willems Doodles
    • The Scop
  • Book Blogs I Like

    • A Book and a Hug
    • A Fuse #8 Production
    • A Kids Book a Day
    • A Year of Reading
    • Abby (the) Librarian
    • Awful Library Books
    • Becky’s Book Reviews
    • Better Book Titles
    • Book-A-Day Almanac
    • Bookends
    • books4yourkids.com
    • bookshelves of doom
    • Bottom Shelf Books
    • Calling Caldecott
    • Caustic Cover Critic
    • Chad C. Beckerman
    • Charlotte’s Library
    • Cheryl Rainfield
    • Chicken Spaghetti
    • CHILDREN’S ILLUSTRATION
    • Collecting Children’s Books
    • Cybils
    • EarlyWord
    • educating alice
    • Finding Wonderland
    • For Those About to Mock
    • Good Comics for Kids
    • Good Show Sir
    • GottaBook
    • Great Kid Books
    • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
    • Hi Miss Julie!
    • Jen Robinson’s Book Page
    • Kidsmomo
    • Maria T. Middleton Design
    • Nerdy Book Club
    • Neverending Search
    • Nine Kinds of Pie
    • One Book, Two Books, Old Books, New Books
    • Out of the Box
    • Oz and Ends
    • PlanetEsme
    • Read Roger
    • Reading Rants!
    • Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
    • sharpread
    • ShelfTalker
    • so tomorrow
    • The Children's Book Review
    • The Miss Rumphius Effect
    • Uncovered Cover Art
    • Waking Brain Cells
    • Watch. Connect. Read.
  • Library Blogs

    • ALSC Blog
    • Blue Skunk Blog
    • librarian.net
    • LISNews
    • Stephen's Lighthouse
    • Tame The Web: Libraries and Technology
    • Tame The Web: Libraries and Technology
    • Unshelved
  • Follow This Blog

    Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

    This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

    This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

    Primary Sidebar

    • News & Features
    • Reviews+
    • Technology
    • School Libraries
    • Public Libraries
    • Age Level
    • Ideas
    • Blogs
    • Classroom
    • Diversity
    • People
    • Job Zone

    Reviews+

    • Book Lists
    • Best Books
    • Media
    • Reference
    • Series Made Simple
    • Tech
    • Review for SLJ
    • Review Submissions

    SLJ Blog Network

    • 100 Scope Notes
    • A Fuse #8 Production
    • Good Comics for Kids
    • Heavy Medal
    • Neverending Search
    • Teen Librarian Toolbox
    • The Classroom Bookshelf
    • The Yarn

    Resources

    • 2022 Youth Media Awards
    • The Newbery at 100: SLJ Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Award
    • Special Report | School Libraries 2021
    • Summer Reading 2021
    • Series Made Simple Spring 2021
    • SLJ Diverse Books Survey
    • Summer Programming Survey
    • Research
    • White Papers / Case Studies
    • School Librarian of the Year
    • Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards
    • Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award

    Events & PD

    • In-Person Events
    • Online Courses
    • Virtual Events
    • Webcasts
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Subscribe
    • Media Inquiries
    • Newsletter Sign Up
    • Content Submissions
    • Data Privacy
    • Terms of Use
    • Terms of Sale
    • FAQs
    • Diversity Policy
    • Careers at MSI


    COPYRIGHT © 2022


    COPYRIGHT © 2022