We're going on a quest for some new books today for my school library. Every so often, Scholastic has a big warehouse sale and puts remaindered and undersold books on a serious discount.
Unfortunately, they never hold these sales anywhere that is within easy driving distance for me. Until now.
So off we go, to see what we can find among the discount bins and boxes, to replenish the well-thumbed pages of some of the favorites in my little library. It is amazing how many books you can go through a year when your reading constituency consists of small children who love to read, but also love to eat messy snacks and drink kook-aid while doing so. (Even when their mean librarian tells them no food and drinks with their library books on a regular basis.)
I've been compiling a list in my head of what I might want to seek out, but will be fine-tuning it on paper on the two-hour drive to the warehouse this morning.
If you haven't been paying attention the last few years, you should. Children's literature is fantastic at the moment. Thanks may be due to the J. K. Rowling Harry Potter phenomenon, and all of the copycat fantasy sequels it has spawned, but is more likely just a product of increased reading on the whole by kids who are finding some really good things to read.
More quality writing is spawning more quality reading, perhaps.
As I tell my kids, the classics are classics for a lot of very good reasons, not the least of which is how wonderful they are to read...still. But there is something really exciting about finding a new book that is so good that it is destined to join the classics pantheon. All the new books build on the classic shoulders, putting new twists on older plots and characters, and adding to the imaginations of the next generation of readers and writers, some of whom may be in my classes. Just the thought of this makes me seriously happy.
A good book is such a joy, isn't it? The fact that so many of them keep appearing from so many wonderful authors just makes my job more fun -- because I try to read the new books that come into the library to be able to describe them for the kids and match them up with the right readers. Let me tell you, there is some wonderful stuff to devour in my "to read" pile right now, and I'm hoping to add to that today.
A big thank you to all the authors and editors out there: you make my job really enjoyable, and my reading time a lot more fun. So, thank you very much for the constant source of new inspiration.
Whatever the reason for the explosion of good writing, there is a lot of really good reading out there for my kids, and today I am going out to find some great new books. The thought of a giant warehouse full of discounted yet still awesome books is making me a little giddy, I'm not going to lie.
I am such a nerd. But in a good way, right?
(Photo via Pimtheda.)
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