Another Request!

There's been another request with my Little Free Library!

Fortunately, both books were available for just

fifty cents each at my local 

Friends of the Library Used Bookstore.

However...

for the third time,

I haven't had luck actually getting my patrons to pick up their books.

What's a library lady gotta do,

stake out the library with some surveillance gear?

Goodbye, Beautiful Summer

Because of my school schedule,

this summer I ended up with a full

THREE MONTHS

of no work, no school, no being a taxi mom.

It was the longest I've been off since I was ELEVEN.

To put this in perspective,

the last time I had this long of a vacation,

I was cooling off in the family above-ground pool and

and quenching my thirst by getting a drink from the garden hose.

As usual with the summers I started off ambitious...

... but by the end felt I had accomplished something

if I changed the Britta water filter.

(Hey, there's three whole steps in replacing that thing!)

However, student teaching starts next week,

so it's time to say goodbye to all the good times I had this summer.

Goodbye to long, sweaty, satisfying days in my garden,

where I pulled out the dead plants that didn't make it through

the shockingly dry winter,

and replaced them with sturdier natives and succulents. 

(The above section is in honor of a local landmark,

Grandma Prisbrey's Bottle Village.)

Goodbye to long mornings at the city library's used bookstore,

where I stocked up on books for my Little Free Library,

my bookshelf, and my future classroom.

(Also, shout-out to the lovely Linda,

 who always gave me the best deals on my books.)

And speaking of bookshelves,

goodbye to hours of luxurious reading,

which I know will be in short supply once school starts.

(These are just a few of my bookshelves.)

Goodbye to sewing for my Etsy shop!

I haven't put my shop on vacation,

but I won't be adding new items any time soon.

Goodbye to looong cuddle-pets with my kitties...

... who will probably be thinking,

I thought we'd never get the house back to ourselves!

Oh, bed.

How I will miss getting up every morning sans alarm clock.

And while I hope I'll still have time to practice my ukulele...

...I know I probably won't progress much past

the half-dozen folk songs I've sorta mastered.

Sigh...

I would stay in my funk for a bit longer,

except...

except...

... look what I just saw at Joann Fabrics!

Yaaaay!!!!

Beautiful Halloween is just around the corner.

Famous!

Please, please, everyone... no photos.

Yes, I know I'm famous.

But just because I'm Internet Famous in my local newspaper...

... it doesn't mean I want to be ambushed by the paparazzi.

Yes, a year after my Little Free Library first opened,

I finally made my tiny local newspaper.

I've really enjoyed my time as a Little Free Library Steward;

the best part has probably been the feedback I've received:

A Goosebumps fan.

I didn't find this till a couple of weeks ago!

I need to check inside the books more often.

"I love it cause it makes me happy

when they play and I like playing to[o]."

Aww.  Little heart.

HA!  This cracks me up.

So, happy birthday, Little Free Library.

Here's to another year of sharing books!

Books, Books, And More Books!

Today, I went to the LA Times Festival of Books!

I had some folks I wanted to see, 

but in a cool surprise I saw a face from a loooong time ago:

Simon Silva, a high school classmate who went on to become

an author, artist, and speaker.

(On the car ride home, I realized I probably last saw him in person 

more than THIRTY YEARS ago!  Yikes!!)

For the other ... uh... people? I wanted to see,

I may have been the only adult to cop a photo op:

It's the Boxtrolls!!

I adored Laika's last movie, ParaNorman,

so am in an absolute tizzy about the Boxtrolls,

which will come out in September.

And for my thrill of the day?

Tomie dePaola!!!

He is a freakin' rock star of children's lit,

and has written and/or illustrated approximately a meeellion books,

among them Strega Nona, 26 Fairmont Avenue, and The Art Lesson.

I brought my own copy of 26 Fairmont Avenue to be signed,

and bought his new book which he illustrated for writer Lin Oliver,

Little Poems for Tiny Ears.

When it was time to get my books signed,

I told him how we still quote him in my household;

there's a bit in 26 Fairmont Avenue where Tomie is seeing the cartoon

of Snow White, but in his frustration at the changes

from the original Grimm Brother's story

he gets up in the theater and yells,

"Mr. Walt Disney didn't read the story right!"

We say that when there's big changes from a book to a movie.

Mr. dePaola chuckled and said, 

"That's why Walt Disney will never do MY story!"

(Which I'm pretty sure meant Mr. dePaola has had a bit of a wild life.)

Btw?  That last image?

That's the face of a girl who just got to meet one of her idols.

And let me tell you,

if I didn't know better, I would have pegged Mr. dePaola

as easily a decade younger than his seventy-nine years.

He was as spritely and jolly as you could wish

a children's author/illustrator to be.

Anyhoo, this post wouldn't be possible without The Sweet Man,

who acted as my personal photographer for the day.

Yes, he braved LA traffic for me, 

and all he got for his troubles was some tasty gelato.

Sigh... what a lucky woman I am.

I Like You, Too, Library Patron!

I've written before about my Little Free Library:

It's been chugging along nicely,

with books going out and back in with a satisfying regularity.

One thing that has not been happening, however,

is written feedback in the books.

In the front of each book I put a book pocket and card...

... with a bossy demand friendly request to leave feedback.

So far? 

But then!

This book came back!

And inside it?

The most awesome feedback that ever feedbacked!

Bless her heart.

(Literally.  She drew a little heart in the top right corner.)

So I guess I'll keep gluing pockets in the front of the books,

and hope for more notes from my Little Free Library patrons.

Because hearing back from folks who have read a book?

It's a special kind of book magic.

Library To The Rescuuuuuuue!

So.  Like I said.

I'm back in school.

But it's spring break! 

Wooooo!!!

However, I'm not spending it boozing or showing off my bosoms.

Instead, I'm catching up on my blog!

Woooooo!!

Anyhoo, today I'm talking about teaching.

Specifically, teaching supplies.

A lovely new teacher came to one of my teaching classes last week,

and explained that when she got to her brand-new classroom 

at the beginning of the year?

It was empty.

And when I say "empty," I mean
e-m-p-t-y.

She wasn't just in charge of getting cutesy stuff for her bulletin boards...

...she also had to somehow wrangle her own dictionaries.

She told us how she's been getting items through Donor's Choose,

but that's crazy, right?

Having to depend on the kindness of strangers
for basic teaching supplies?

Let me tell you,
when folks say that education's problems can't be solve by

 "throwing money at it,"

I roll my eyes Liz Lemon-style so hard it's a wonder they don't

fall out of my head.

So, yeah.  I've started amassing supplies now for my future classroom.

I hit the sales and dollar bin at Target,

but the best source of classroom books?

The used bookstore in my local library!

Just look at what I've found!

I found some sweet Golden Books for my Little Free Library...

... some nonfiction, poetry, and a cool dragon "handbook"...

... Calvin and Hobbes! Yay!!!

Both old friends...

... and new.

  
Crazy bargains, like these books on tape for FIFTY CENTS EACH...

... and these pristine, hardback copies of the My Father's Dragon trilogy.

The one on the right?
One dollar.
The one on the left?

FIFTY CENTS.

Look what they originally cost!

And yep, I even found some class dictionaries in excellent condition,
ranging in price from fifty cents to a measly three dollars.

SCORE!!

Bottom line:  I don't have the patience to spend my weekends
 combing yard sales for bargains for my house.

But when it comes to my future classroom?
I'm happy to visit the library used bookstore weekly.
Because, as any teacher knows: