May 26 – “Library Time”

I spent the morning in a library yesterday.  What a thrilling experience.  Wait.  I guess that was not a completely sarcastic remark, though there was a heavy dose of it included.  I decided to at least set eyes on every book that has been donated to the church/school library and see if they were appropriate to be there.  In the process I also began a little bit of organizing, but after awhile it became apparent that both were not going to happen in one day.  So the organizing fell by the wayside, and I dug into thumbing through all the books.   It didn't take long to find a few that could be considered questionable.  Captain Underpants adventure books.  They looked kind of funny to me, but Captain Underpants?  Maybe it was because I remember our boys wearing their Superman Underoos to save the world.  I brought them home to reminisce.  The books, not the Underoos.  There was another book I brought home to check out.  It was written by two guys from China and translated, making for an interesting result.  In this story a pair of underpants flies off a clothesline and lands on a rabbit's head.  (Sensing a pattern here?)  He thinks it's a hat.  The story line involves the opinions he gets from all his forest friends about whether or not it is a hat.  Most of them even tried it on themselves.  Looked pretty good on the elephant.  I think it was the donkey dressed like a human that first suggested it might actually be underpants.  And what happens next?  Well, I can't reveal the whole story.  You'll just have to check out the book.    I also brought home a book called The Naked Manatee.  Looks like one of those where they got some famous guy to write the first chapter, then passed it to the next guy to write chapter two, and so on until they had a book.  I think the concept is fascinating.  Don't know yet about the book.  All I have picked up so far is the main character's name.  Booger.  Lots of potential there.   There was a whole stack of those girlie romance novels.  I couldn't convince myself to bring those home to read.  Thankfully the teacher at the school volunteered to check them out to see if they were appropriate.  Saved them from the trash pile, she did.    There was a lot of really good stuff in there.  We have a ton of teacher resource material that can be used by homeschooling parents.  Curriculum plans for several ages levels, art ideas, Spanish lessons.  Much of it was published by Abeka, but there are some others in there as well.  Having those available for checkout fits in perfectly with one of our original plans to provide assistance to those who choose to homeschool.   Along with the huge stack of coloring books, there were VCR tapes, DVD's, CD's and Books on tape.  How about the magazines?  Ranger Rick.  National Geographic Kids World.  Highlights.  The books for kids are the most impressive, though.   Lots of those were donated by several sources around the country after Hurricane Ike.  Picture the children's section of your local public library, perhaps on a somewhat smaller scale.  Dr. Seuss and Mickey Mouse and the Berenstain Bears are all represented.  Once we get them sorted out and catalogued, we will have a library that I would be proud to open up to the community.  Guess where I'll be spending some time this summer?  Can anyone speak Dewey Decimal System?   Proverbs 9:11-12 says, "For through me your days will be many, and years will be added to your life.  If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you; if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer."   Father, be with our school kids over the summer.  And bring us some more.  We're getting geared up for them for next year.  Amen.