Thursday, November 29, 2007

Yes, in fact, I was hiding that book

I have a confession -- sometimes I hide books at the library. No, not just any library... but where I'm the volunteer librarian. Ahhh, but it's not censorship I'm talking about. Nope. What am I hiding? Perfect read-alouds!

It started with The Secret Knowledge of Grownups, a book that was so popular I knew that if I left it on the shelf, it would never be in for more than a minute. The Dumb Bunnies became a second example. So now, whenever I think I've got another surefire hit, I hide it in my secret cabinet. The problem is, now I've got too many of these "rainy day" books and not enough rainy days! Ah well, they won't spoil....

Still, I'm often left to wonder if am I the only one who does this? Wouldn't be the first time I was a maverick, I guess... but regardless, I just can't help myself!

4 comments:

fusenumber8 said...

Now I have never tried either of those books. Care to rustle up a list of suggested readalouds in your spare time, old boy?

Lisa Yee said...

Hmmmm . . . so you're the one who hid those books!

Anonymous said...

I have a "story shelf" in my office that is really four shelves' worth of books I keep there so I can use them whenever I want to read them aloud. No one else is allowed to touch them, although, that said, I always make sure I have extra copies to keep out on the circulating shelves.

On a similar note, whenever school groups visit our library, they aren't allowed to check out books--BUT I always encourage them to hide books and demand that their parents bring them back to the library after school so that they can retrieve them and check them out. I know it's causing chaos in the world, but the kids really enjoy it (as do I).

Elaine Magliaro said...

Gregory,

When I was an elementary librarian, I often pulled titles off the shelves a couple of weeks before I planned to use them as read-aloud books for certain classes. I also purchased personal copies of some books that were extremely popular--books that I wanted to be sure I'd have on hand when I needed them. That's one reason why I don't have a timeshare in Florida or a second home in ski country. I've spent so much money on children's books.