Research Is Fun At the Library

Thursdays have gotten a bit more complicated with the new timing of swim class, so library visits with all the kids may be a relic of the past. Instead I'll probably grab the Favored Few (innocent victims?) and work my visit around whoever is handy.

I skipped several weeks of posting our library visits, including the very successful trip with A. She needed to research a Presidential figure for a school report.  I shoved her past the catalog to force her to browse biographies, where she swiftly found her book after I gently nudged her to look under his last name. Then we checked the online resources, where she had fun whittling the 200 choices down to a few screens (those "available now" buttons are a blessing of modern times). One more book from the adult section, and then yet one more when I showed her how to browse a bit in nonfiction. How gratifying to hear her amazed voice "Wow, looking up books isn't even boring!"

This week was my first trip since the TBR Dare ended (although since I fell off the wagon last week I could have cheated then), so I celebrated by grabbing two books from the temptation display.  I'm pretty sure they are on my TBR list, so finishing them will give me the pleasure of crossing something off my list.  P was there with me, and he obligingly checked out two books on his card since I had two things for him out on mine.  "That's fair," he told me in his little voice of Solomon.

On the hold shelf:

• Sidekicks, Dan Santat. Cybils book.
• Where Things Come Back, John Corey Whaley. YA
• The Returning, Christine Hinwood. YA
• Ghetto Cowboy, G. Neri (audio). The audio won a prize, so I thought I'd try it out. 
• Swirl by Swirl, Joyce Sidman. I've enjoyed her previous books of science poetry, so we'll try a new one.  Maybe I'll have something to recommend to the 2012 Cybils.
• The Wives of Henry Oades, Johanna Moran. I'm back to ticking off my TBR list from the bottom up.
• The Placebo Chronicles, Douglas Farrago. This was supposed to be a research book for P's science project, but it's actually a collection of often off-color memories of medical interns and professionals.  Oops.

The new things I grabbed because I saw them and wanted them and TOOK them (ah, the freedom from the accursed Dare):

• Timeless, Gail Carriger. Last in the series.
• The Reading Promise, Alice Ozma. Best parenting idea ever!
• GLEE CD, but I don't remember which one.

I also have some ebooks out:

• Echoes of Betrayal
• Kings of the North
• Oath of Fealty
• Angels of Darkness
• Magic Slays
• Magic Mourns
• Daring
• Wizard of Mars

This brings me to a total of 33 items out on my card, plus 8 ebooks. One book is overdue, but it's heading back tomorrow.  The pile of review-real-soon-now books is now lower than my lampshade, which is definitely good progress.  I'll go share my Library Loot at the event co-hosted by Claire from the Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader, where all the library addicts compare their treasures.