My name is Tonya Bolden and I’m the author of How to Build a Museum.
Well, I think when I was in the wonder years, eight, I loved writing. I loved books, I had dreams about books. If I couldn’t be outside because of the weather or I was on punishment, I was writing a poem or short story. But I didn’t know, I mean I had books obviously I knew there were writers but I had no contact with writers and I didn’t quite dream, it was just a thing I loved to do.
What I thought I was going to grow up to be was a teacher. I wanted to be a teacher because I loved school, there’s a story that when I was starting kindergarten I think it was, they phased us in like a Tuesday and a Wednesday. And my older sister Nell, at four years old, was already in school. And I was supposed to go the Wednesday and I pitched a fit and my mother brings me the Tuesday and said can she start?
And my mother said she was kind of heartbroken because all the other kids were like crying and mommy and she said I just took off and said bye and went to school. So you know, for me you know school is like water for a fish.