library love

Oh how I love the stacks of books at the library.  I’ve loved it since I was young.  Our library was a magical place and my mom or dad would bring three little girls, point to what shelves we should each look on for our books.  We could choose only three when we were young.  The books were color coded on the spine and that was what we were looking for after we got out of the picture books.  I guess you might call it limited choice.  My parents didn’t want us reading about girls liking boys and boys liking girls until we were older, and they didn’t have time to read our books because all they wanted to do was read their books, the newspaper and of course, National Geographic.  As we progressed in age I had permission to ride my bike, with my friends.  In Junior High they didn’t care what we chose, only that we did choose to read on those long days of summer.

It was a wonderful way to grow up.  My biggest problem with my library is that I had to give the books back.  I understood the reason, but it was so hard to share and many books I never wanted to end.  This sometimes resulted in library fines.  This is the year that I have cleaned up my act, no fines in 2015!

My days at the library have looked different in recent years.  I rarely have time to browse to my heart’s content.  I order a stack through inner library loan to see if the books are worthy for the class I teach.  I have the luxury of choosing the ‘best of the best’ for my class I teach at a university in the area.  This year I am writing curriculum with two of my closest friends from the district for my former district.  I’m pretty opinionated when it comes to choosing…and we need to choose books that fit the curriculum at every grade level.

Last month I ordered about 40 books on Matter and Energy, my favorite topic….NOT…..  Thank goodness for my library, because of the time it has saved me.  My dad would choose energy it in a heart beat.  So I am picking out several to read every day, or try any way.

I realize that sometimes I need to read and understand things that don’t necessarily interest me.  Sometimes it is a part of my job. And sometimes I even find a title that engages me, even fascinates me.  Energy Island (Drummond, 2011), it reads like a story with whimsical drawings and factual information on the right-hand side of the two page spread.  It is a true story about a community in Denmark that used the wind to become energy efficient.

Thank goodness for my local library that believes in sharing also.  Only a quarter of the books in my rolling cart have come from my library…the others have come from other libraries in suburbia.  Hopefully, I will find several more informational books in my stack that will entice teachers who will then entice students to get excited about Matter and Energy.

If you have any great titles, let me know, I’ll order them!

Ahh, sigh, we can’t just teach animals all day every grade, even though it always would be my first choice!