Book Boxes and A Killer Pancake

Like so many others in our neighborhood, my kids have grown up with I saw that she was being honored last week and it got me thinking about how valuable people like her, and the library, are to our community.

The spring semester at Chatham is winding down, so I’ve spent my free time this week catching up on my reading. In March, CC Mellor Library had its annual book sale. Our family goes every year. We do a “book purge” and drop off our used books at the library, and buy two boxes of new-to-us ones from the sale -- one box for the adults, and one for the children.

We give ourselves all year to read the books we’ve bought, and at the end of the year we decide what to do with last year’s books. If we’ve read a book, it goes back, as do any we’ve bought over the year and finished with. Those we’ve not read, either we give up on and send back, or we give ourselves another year to get it read.

I always enjoy the book sale but this particular year, I had something going on and couldn’t join my family. “I know,” I suggested. “I’ll have you guys pick out my books for me. You know what I like. Chick Fic., historical fiction, mysteries, the occasional biography, international fiction. Refer to what I put in the out box.”

“OK,” agreed my husband. “Here’s how we’ll do this. Each of us will select at least one book for you, but you have to guess who chose the books.”

At the book sale, you can always tell which authors are falling out of favor by the number of copies of their books you see. Apparently David Baldacci, Dan Brown, Nora Roberts and Vince Flynn had better write best-sellers soon. I wonder what those authors would think to see that many copies of their books on the sale table for a buck apiece?

It amuses me to see self-help books at a book sale. Did the original owners give those up because the book worked, and isn’t needed anymore? Or, was the book completely unhelpful…or, did the reader give up and decide he or she was beyond help?

With how-to books, you wonder whether the books are there because the reader mastered the subject matter. I always feel bad to see history books from before the Berlin Wall fell, manuals for computer programs that are several versions old, or a “Baseball Prospectus” that was published in the 1990s. I’m not sure why they’re at the sale, because I can’t imagine anyone wanting them.

This year, my family came home with an interestingly varied stack of books. “The Killer Pancake one is mine, Mommy!” shouted the seven-year-old. We really have got to work on the concept of stealth with that guy.

Overall, the family did pretty well with their selections, and I was impressed. Unfortunately, every guess I made about who had chosen which book was wrong. But I got the Killer Pancake right.

My daughter makes it a goal each year to read 100 books. I used to have that goal also; the highest number I ever reached was 72. I try to remind myself that my daughter counts graphic novels as “books,” and that I don’t get to read for fun as much anymore now that I go to school full-time.

Two months after the book sale, I’ve read four out of seven. Summer is coming up, and I can’t wait to read the rest. So far, the results are a lot like a film festival. Some you like, some you don’t, some bore you silly, and some you just don’t freakin’ understand. But I keep going to film festivals, and reading new books, because it’s exciting to be exposed to new artists and new art, and it helps me grow.

I’ve certainly noticed that by making the library book sale a tradition, and borrowing regularly from the library ourselves, my husband and I have managed to excite the children more about the library and about reading. Last summer, two of the three children completed the summer reading program. This year we hope it will be all three.

I can’t say enough good things about CC Mellor Library, and wish we had the resources to support them more than we do. It’s a true community treasure we are lucky to have. And while our family has no doubt that will bloom wherever she is planted, we are sorry to lose her and we wish her well.