The 61st branch on my library pilgrimage was Pleasant View, which I checked out for the first time in 2009. It was the very last branch east of the Don Valley Parkway that I hadn’t visited up to that point.
As I ambled around Pleasant View, I discovered a medium-sized auditorium and shelves with books in Chinese, French, and Italian.
I was especially taken with the open reading areas. There was one in each of the four corners of the building, all with comfy chairs and floor-to-ceiling windows.
Though Pleasant View’s character seemed very pragmatic, it also had a whimsical side. In the Children’s section, five arches that contained animal portraits were separated by flat columns that had been splattered with pink and green paint.
Proceeding from left to right, the first portrait starred a seated deer wearing a sari. Relaxing in a temple grove, the deer held a book in her hooves as she enjoyed a serenade by a woman with a sitar and a man with a drum.
Next to the deer was a picture of a rabbit with an enigmatic expression and a pleasingly-draped blanket over one shoulder.
The third frame depicted the head and neck of a cheerful giraffe. She wore a patterned red scarf and an unstructured tunic.
The fourth animal’s identity was unclear to me; possibly it was a fox, but its whiskers looked feline. Priestly robes bestowed an extra measure of gravitas on the cat-fox.
The final animal portrait featured a scholarly bear at work in his study. He wore a robe like an Oxford don and a blue hat in the shape of a Yorkshire pudding.
Inspired by the studious bear, I left his host library even more determined to visit the remaining thirty-eight TPL branches!