The first time I had an overdue fine at the library was when I was eight years o...

The first time I had an overdue fine at the library was when I was eight years old. The fine was for a book that told the story of George Washington Carver’s life. I loved the man so much—his gentleness, his curiosity, his great affection and respect for the peanut—that I couldn’t bear to part with the book.
Yesterday, I was in a used bookstore and found a biography of George Washington Carver by Anne Terry White.
Here is the first sentence of the flap copy: “On a wild winter night in the O...