Library Book Sale

The past few years something or another has prevented me from going to our annual Friends of the Library Book Sale. This year I almost forgot it was happening but then, gratefully, the random thought struck my brain that very morning, "Today is the day!" I mentioned to Jonathan at lunch that it was happening and he agreed that I could go. I tried to talk my boys into going with me but only one of them would, on condition that we look for train books. So off we went.

I always think it's kind of fun to hear about what books people managed to find at their local library sales and so I thought I'd list my findings as well. Here was our haul:

1 and 2. The Goose Girl, by Shannon Hale. I've been randomly picking this book up for the past few years at book stores and always decide against it. I hope to like it even more than When You Reach Me (which I reviewed yesterday, having also picked it up at the sale).


3. Harriet the Spy, by Louise Fitzhugh. I've never read it!

4, 5 and 6. Dun dun DUUUUUNN!!! Tom Swift and The Visitor from Planet X ("If the earthquakes cannot be stopped, the entire world will be threatened by destruction . . . "), Tom Swift Jr. And His Outpost In Space and Tom Swift and His Polar-Ray Dynasphere.

"Fireball missiles and a hairbreadth encounter with a charging tiger are only two of the perils that confront the daring young inventor in this colorful, thrill-packed adventure."

Bwwhahahahaha!

*These are part of the newer Tom Swift Jr. books. They are not from the original Tom Swift series. But that's ok. I read a few of these when I was in my teens and always thought I'd like to find a few should I ever be a mother of boys. Done!

Interesting to note: the first and original Tom Swift series was published between 1910 and 1941. The second series - Tom Swift Jr. - was published between 1954 and 1971. There was a third and fourth series but those appear to be much more modern (published between 1981 and 1991). I think trying to make a third and fourth series of books like these is dragging things out unnecessarily and risks spoiling a good series. Like Downtown Abbey Season 3 which should have brought everything to a happy conclusion.)

7. Finding Nemo: The Junior Novelization because why not? We enjoyed the Tangled Junior Novelization (linked) so much that I thought I'd go ahead and get this one for the boys as well.

8. The Little White Horse, by Elizabeth Goudge. Amy at Hope is in the Word raved about this one and I had stuck it on my Amazon wishlist. I grinned with glee and leapt upon this book when I found it in the massive pile of books! It's been traveling all around the house with me, waiting for my attention.

9. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, by Kate DiCamillo. Haven't read this one.

Then things for Mommy, specifically . . .

10. Shirley, by Charlotte Bronte. Because I, uh, had never heard of it.

11. Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson. Because we didn't own it. I remember reading this one awhile back - but so far back I don't remember it.

12. Daniel Deronda, by George Eliot! I was super excited to find this since Heather chose this title for the August edition of the Reading to Know Book Club. When I saw how long the book was, I knew I didn't want to have to check it out from the library (I never manage to return things on time. Ever.) and so I was looking for a reasonably priced copy. $2 serves me well! No stress reading. ;)

13. The Jungle Books, by Rudyard Kipling. I was also excited to find this one because I did not previously realize that there was more than ONE Jungle Book and Sky chose this for our September book club read. (Score!)

14. Heroes of History A Selection of Churchill's Favorite Historical Characters, by Winston Churchill. This book is a selection of stories from his History of the English-Speaking Peoples and it tells the story of people he most admired in history. I'm excited to read it.

15. Tale of Beatrix Potter: A Biography, by Margaret Lane. I've never read a biography of Potter and I know none of the merits of this one. Anyone else familiar with it? It looked fun.

And lastly . . .

16. The Kate Greenaway Treasury which I picked up and began browsing through out of curiosity. In the introduction it explained that Kate Greenaway was the first author that wrote stories for children for entertainment purposes only without trying to attach morals to the story. (How. . . ?!? But never mind.) Her first story was published in 1878 and I'm curious to read through this collection of her works.

This was my Friends of the Library haul this year - with the addition of a few other picture books which are all train themed. Now just reading as fast as I can. Per usual.