Thanks to everyone who listened to me on
Blog Talk Radio! And if you want to read a quick interview with me, head over to
The First Book for five short questions and answers!
On Wednesdays I volunteer at our elementary school library. I joke that the job is a bit Sisyphean (google that one, OK).
- Check in the books.
- Shelve the books.
- Check out the books.
- Check in the books.
- Shelve the books.
- Check out the books.
When a class comes in I grab their books and try to check them in and get them shelved before it's time for them to check out new books. Why? Because kids will run to check out what their friend had checked out the week before. They see their friend with a book that looks cool and want their turn with it this week.
Which is kind of a statement on marketing, right. Word of Mouth. Cover exposure. Read what your friends are reading. That's what it's all about.

Another reason for trying to shelve all the books as fast as I can is that I spend any extra time I have reading. I grab a book each week off the shelves (or bring one from home if I'm way excited about reading it) and sit reading until they're ready to check out more books.
This week, while shelving a graphic novel (maybe
The Hardy Boys or something like that) I spotted a brand new copy of
Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon and Dean Hale, Illustrated by Nathan Hale beckoning me from the shelf. I grabbed it and immediately checked it out under my son's account.
You might think it's bad that I grabbed the book before the kids could, but it brings us to the whole new books topic. What would make a kid grab a brand new book, maybe one they've never heard of, off the shelf?
The answer...I'm not sure. They don't have a bunch of time to look for books. So how cool the cover is would be the main factor if they've never heard of the book.
So when my son came up to check out his books, I showed him
Rapunzel's Revenge. Immediately I had twenty eyes on me
and the book - them asking me what it was about, them commenting on how cool the title was, them seeing the inside was a graphic novel and getting excited.
My guess is once I check it in, one of his classmates will clamber to check it out next.
The message: Talk about books to kids/adults. Recommend books to kids/adults.
(Oh, and if you're looking for something to recommend, don't forget about
The Emerald Tablet.)
I'm actually getting to be a bit more useful at the library. When the kids came over to get shelf markers, I suggested they go check out the books on monsters and mummies, and even showed them where they were (I'd just shelved some the class before). Ten kids followed me over, and sure enough plenty of monster books were checked out.
BTW, shelving those books with the
Dewey Decimal numbers on them is totally tedious and amusing at the same time. Because 599.4 is not the same as 599.42 and is definitely not the same as just 599. And don't forget to keep them in alphabetical order within the thousandths digit.
I shelved a darling book which I really had to mention.
The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet by Eleanor Cameron.
I've never read it, but I will. Why? Because I love this cover.
BTW, this is the cover the library had. The book looked like it had been there since 1954.

And here's a couple more recent covers.




Makes you want to order it right now, doesn't it! It would make a nice addition to my library (if I could get an original cover).
Have a great Thursday! We have the energy efficiency people coming tomorrow to caulk our house and save us tons on our electric bill each month. The company we're using, Green Collar Operations, is great (in case you live in Austin and have been contemplating getting this done). And the owner is also co-owner of a winery. I swapped a copy of
The Emerald Tablet signed to his daughters for a couple bottles of wine!