Make a Splash @ Your Library – Week 2

I must admit, I was quite surprised that Catherine read as many books from last week’s stash as she did. Many of them she initially rejected, but I left them on the coffee table and voila! within days she had most of them devoured. Some, like Little Wolf’s Book of Badness and Walter Wick’s Optical Tricks we’re still reading. Actually, she did better than me, as I haven’t yet started The Dreamer by Pam Munoz-Ryan. I am reading three books that I want to finish before I pick up something new.

I can’t remember if I mentioned it, but last week we took Catherine’s best friend to the library with us. Catherine’s BFF didn’t have a library card, so we got the form and she took it home to be signed. This week I took the signed form with us and she got her shiny new library card!

As the girls sit and read to each other (semi-quietly), I scour the shelves for books where there are two copies. What I saw last week was that they both like having the same book to read, so I mixed in a few easy readers and short chapter books. Catherine’s BFF is a rising second grader and a very good reader. I must admit that I was particularly frustrated that NONE of the 29 titles on the “Books for Grades 3 and 4” were available – and that includes any titles in a series (like Babymouse, Bunnicula, Phineas McGuire).

Buffalo Girls by Bobette McCarthy ~ This is one of my nonfiction picks this week.

How Big Is the Ocean? (Time Life’s Library of First Questions and Answers) ~ My pre-beach nonfiction book selection.

How Do You Wokka-Wokka? by Elizabeth Bluemle ~ Catherine and her friend read this aloud on the way to the library, and then Catherine returned it so her friend could check it out with her brand-new library card.

Stuart’s Cape by Sara Pennybacker ~ I couldn’t find two copies of this book, but I selected Stuart’s Cape and Stuart Goes to School as companion books the girls might read at the pool together.

Super Cluck (An I Can Read Book) by Jane O’Connor ~ Catherine’s BFF checked this out, too. They read this aloud as partners on the way home from the library (it’s a 30-minute drive).

Yoga for Common Ailments (Common Ailments Series) ~ This is Catherine’s “cover up” book, as in I am covering up the fact that I wanted to run in the library and ran away from mom saying “I see a book I want …” It was nice to see that she was using her X-Ray vision, because there were no end-cap books near the Circulation Desk!

Because we kept many of the books we still had from Week 1, we kept this stash small. I am just about done my three short-chapter books and plan to take The Dreamer with me to ALA Annual this weekend. More on that later today!

Also, based on Catherine’s inquiry last week to have a chapter book to read during the swim meet, I packed a few … did she want them? No, but as a parent I know you’re not surprised!