Slice of Life: Learning a New Trick!

You're never too old to learn a new trick. That's why librarians deserve to be your best friends! They know the tricks and they will share them with you.

When I visit my local branch, I always visit the display just inside the front door first. This month was a focus on Asian Pacific Islander Heritage month. I love that our library features adult books, middle grade titles, and even picture books as part of this focus. 

Then I pop over to the new kid books' display table. I love to find books for my grandsons and I still love to read middle grade books. Recently the table was gone! Sometimes they need the table for activities in their meeting room. When that happens, they move this display to the top of a shelf near the periodicals which is definitely not centrally located. Maybe they need someone to donate a table!

I always stop by another display table with a thematic focus. The last time I was in, it was mysteries. Then I head to the new book shelves for grownups which include fiction and non-fiction books (and large print). That's my next-to-last stop before I pop over to library holds and then I check out my books.

I recently attended a Southern book club meeting at our library (not because I need another book club in my life, but) because they were reading a book that I borrowed years ago and the meeting provided the nudge I needed to finally read my brother's copy of A Reading Life by Pat Conroy. 

After the meeting, I enjoyed chatting with the librarian about middle grade book titles and that's when I discovered that our library has a section for Y (youth) shelved near the young adult books. What a great idea! Readers of a certain age aren't stuck in the children's section searching for titles they might love. They have their own section! This discovery added another stop to my library visits. 

I can't leave without sharing three books I found on recent library visits thanks to wonderfully arranged displays in the library. 

The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman comes highly recommended from Melissa, a former teaching colleague, who frequently shares middle grade titles with me (I do the same for her).

My Book and Me is a wonderful tribute to the joy of a favorite book. Check it out from the library, but you'll definitely want to purchase a copy for your own collection..

Ten-Word Tiny Tales of Love by Joseph Coelho and 21 Artist Friends made me wish I could share it with students and discover their stories from the ten-word tiny tales and illustrations. It would be a perfect book to share with students in a creative writing class or with any child who loves to write stories.

Let's give a "Hip, Hip, Hooray" for the libraries and librarians in our lives!