Lending Limits

I love my local library. I miss being a librarian. Being around books day in and day out is amazing. All that knowledge and creativity in palpable form. Awesome.

For a while there, it seemed like I was trying to recreate the library environment at home. Part of the issue was the massive sales surrounding the closing of Borders. I miss Borders. It's not that Barnes & Noble isn't a decent store. However, Borders had a much more liberal outlook. Their clerks could wear jeans. Crazy, right? Don't even get me started on their periodicals selections.

Anyway, like any good consumer, when they went out of business, I descended like a rabid vulture and bought books on discount...a lot of books. Actually, I have a weakness for buying books. In most areas of my life, I'm pretty frugal. However, should I walk into a bookstore (used or otherwise) I have a hard time leaving without a purchase.

I can't resist books. Books and craft beer. So there you have it. It's my kryptonite.

Now that I have a child, I have shifted my literary impulses on to the library. It's easier on the budget. Dekalb has a good library system. I particularly like the request function. If Dekalb has it in any of their branches, I can get it shipped to my local library. It's a nice function. I use it a lot.

As a lit teacher, I'm often on the hunt for the perfect book for Jane, Dick, or Sally. I spend a lot of time trying to find books for reluctant readers. I'm pretty good at it too, I'm told. Recently, I've started creating resources for teachers in my school who are trying to mimic my success. I've become really enchanted with the idea of reading ladders.

The idea behind reading ladders is that if you can find a book a student genuinely likes, you can probably find one similar to it that they will like as well. It's a sound theory, but it requires a solid foundation in YA literature. A foundation that I'm acquiring. However, it's not feasible for an entire english department to read the way I do. So, I'm trying to find a way to spread the love.

I'm creating these thematically scaled lists in an effort to help my cohorts. However, I am finding I need to do research to fill gaps. There are plenty of resources, but to know if the books I find fit, I have to take a look.

So, I request books.

Turns out there is a limit. The limit is 14. Now pragmatically, I know most people can't get through 14 books in a couple of weeks, but I can. It's not an unreasonable limit, but darn it, I'm on a mission.

*fume*

I need more books!