I was still in university, working my retail sales job. My friend and I both worked at the same store. She invited me to join her for Christmas dinner that year (and I think her mom – but my memory is cloudy on that point). I bought her a little book as a gift. I don’t even remember what the book was called. It was collection of holiday stories. I wrote her some instructions on the inside front cover. I wrote that my gift was only a temporary one, and that the following year she had to sign it and gift the book to someone else she knew.
I’ve always wondered where that book ended up.
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I thought I’d take a minute to let you know how our community bookcase is doing. It is ok. Just ok. Maybe a tiny bit dreary and in need of a helping hand. A few too many donations of old PolySci and math textbooks have accumulated there (along with a few other tomes I will soon officially decree to be unreadable) and are clogging things up. The current situation is a bit good news/bad news really. In the next couple of weeks I will be giving the shelf an assessment and a big pruning. There are lots of paperbacks of all kinds (yay!), but I think the worst thing is (aside from “Freshman Math”) is that there is a notable gap in children’s lit (boo).
That’s why I was very happy to receive a good-sized donation of mostly tweenage reading material yesterday. I’ve decided to label the books and bring them up to Dovercourt a few at a time.
I’m going to take a Bookcrossing-type of approach with this batch. I’ve created some labels designed to look like a thought bubble. (These books are smart. Who knew that books can think?)
The text reads: “Borrow me. Read me. Take care of me. And when you’re done, bring me back to Dovercourt and swap me for another.” And then it says: “Did you read me? I’m competing with my bookish friends here. I’d like to know your name…”
At which point I added a few lines to collect a few signatures.
I’m hoping that (a) this catches the interest of a few tweens and (b) it encourages the kids to bring the books back and keep them circulating.
This afternoon we released the following books into the wild:
Yolonda’s Genius, Carol Fenner
Robinson Crusoe, retold from Daniel Defoe
The Dark is Rising, Susan Cooper
Gulliver’s Travels, retold from Jonathan Swift
If you see one and pass it along to a tween you know, please ask them to sign it before they set it free. I’d like to see a couple of them find their way home some day. Thank you!
