Every day I add to my pile of books that are falling to bits. The pile above is just about a week's worth of repair, which was done by my fabulous volunteer Linda. In addition to glue, I usually have a couple of books that have to have the covers taped back on, missing pages copied and inserted, etc.
It occurred to me that a good way to know what back listed books might be good for others to add to their libraries might be to showcase some of these. The five titles that were not obviously popular (a lot of the pile is Riordan and Rowling) are the following:
Potter, Ellen. Pish Posh. (2006)
Schreiber, Ellen. Vampire Kisses (2003) 3 copies in my collection
Shipton, Paul. The Pig Scrolls (2007) 2 copies
Shusterman, Neal. Unwind (2007) 2 copies
Sleator, William. The Boy Who Couldn't Die (2005)
Not a coincidence that these are all Accelerated Reader titles, unfortunately.
What fell apart in YOUR library today? Books that come into contact with apple juice, Axe cologne or other substances that force them to be placed into a plastic bag don't need to be mentioned; that doesn't show popularity, just carelessness!
Also, what was the most traumatic thing that ever happened to a library book? I had one that was run over by a lawn mower. What was it doing on the lawn, and how do you miss Bollywood Babes, with its white cover?
I've had a surprising number of books eaten by dogs - usually untrained puppies. Other than that, our DK books fall apart whenever they are breathed upon. Why, why, why doesn't DK make better bindings? Or offer library bound books?
ReplyDeleteA couple books I'm always repairing or replacing are SPEAK and the MAXIMUM RIDE series.
ReplyDeleteRJ
Aw, man. This is half my life right now. My school opened in 1996 and the average age of the collection is...1996. I've weeded about 15-20 boxes, yes, BOXES, of books that I'm too embarrassed to let kids take home. "You just throw them away?" Heck, yeah! These are my business cards!
ReplyDeleteThe one that really gets me is I have the middle chunk of a crappy picture book about a bunny. I have no clue where the rest of the book is and am afraid someone will try to check out the rest of it. Of course, same thing happened to one of my Diary of a Wimpy Kids. One of the copies of book one started on about page 48. It worries me that it seemed to take the kids a while to realize this...