Tuesday, May 13, 2008

The White Darkness and Library Addictions

In an attempt to put a love of books into my sons' lives, I've created a saturday morning tradition of visiting our local library. Let me tell ya, it's working! They eagerly climb into the car, clutching last week's books in their little hands, and bouncing in their seats until we pull into the library parking lot. They run inside, drop their books into the return slot, then run into the children's section to pull more books off the shelf. My five year old is addicted to the Magic School Bus series right now, and my three year old wants any book that has to do with trains. It's so funny to watch them perusing the books, being careful to whisper - because we have to be quiet in libraries, of course - and carefully choosing the ones they want to bring home. Makes a mom proud. :)

When they've picked out their books, we meander over to the YA section so I can choose some reading material. Last week, I brought home The White Darkness and Wildwood Dancing. I only made it through The White Darkness - partly because it was a busy week, but also because the story was so unpredictable that my head felt like it was spinning. :) The story starts out with the main character, Sym, gushing over her Uncle Victor as they prepare for a weekend trip to Paris. Sly Uncle Victor turns the Paris trip into Sym's dream vacation - three weeks in Antartica! I don't want to give away the ending, or the many twists that kept me glued to the pages, but let's just say that Uncle Victor remains sly throughout the story...and some of it rubs off on Sym. Very well done.

I read a few pages of Wildwood Dancing last night, and so far it's amazing. I shouldn't have any trouble finishing it before our next beloved library trip. At this rate, I'll have finished the library's YA section in no time - not because I'm a fast reader, but because it's kind of small. My library has picture books, chapter books, and middle grade novels in spades. Zillions, tons, scads of those books crowd the shelves. But, for some reason, the YA section is only a few shelves. It holds the most popular bestsellers, the award winners, and a few local authors. That's it. Kind of makes me sad...even makes me want to buy a bunch that I know to be great, then donate them. Hmm, I think I just might do this, little by little, book by book. :)

What about the rest of you? What does your library have to offer? Have you donated books to beef up a skimpy section?

5 comments:

Susan Sandmore said...

Our library's YA section seems skimpy, too.

On a totally different note, they don't like it when we drop our books in the return slot. They always tell us to put them on top of the counter. And I'm all ::whine:: But I wanted to drop them in the slot!

Tabitha said...

LOL!! My boys would be devastated if they couldn't put the books in the slot. Mostly because they can't reach the counter very well. :)

I wonder why our libraries' YA section is so skimpy. Are teens not visiting the library? Are the librarians just not in to it? Or is it just our libraries?

Here's hoping someone else will come along and tell us about his/her library...

Mary Witzl said...

Our town is small, so our library is also tiny -- about the size of a good-sized room. There are usually no more than half a dozen people in it at one time, including the librarian.

We have a largely elderly population and I am sorry to say that Harlequin romances and other lightweight novels are hugely popular. Great blocks of space are given over to them, and the YA section is puny. One day, I decided to read Robert L Stevenson's 'Treasure Island' to the kids, and found that our library does not have it. We've got many Danielle Steeles and dozens of R L Stines, but not one R L Stevenson. And it's not like there are any better YA novels on the shelves either. Sigh.

Mary Witzl said...

Oh -- we don't have a slot here either. No libraries in the U.K. do, I am told. Sad, isn't it? And damned inconvenient...

Tabitha said...

No slots in the UK? So, you just plop your books on the counter? What if no one's there?

I am very surprised that there's no Treasure Island at your library. Though, come to think of it, I'm not sure if my own library carries it...must check on that.

There's so much great YA fiction out there. I hope, somewhere out there, there's a library with a good selection.