Renton Highlands: My Library, When the Waters Have Run.

A new Quest -- I will read a book from every shelf in the OTHER Renton Library. Renton Highlands!

So, I have a Quest to read all the books in my local library. This quest was slowed down by the pandemic (which closed the library), and then there was a leak or something and my library is closed for repairs. But I hear from my librarian insiders that the repairs are severely backordered because of Supply Chain Issues. 

So I guess I will restart my quest in my CURRENT local library, which is actually now probably just as close to me as the old one. 

Sections

I'm starting in the children's corner, because there is nothing like fast results to get me motivated. I'm going to close my eyes and grab a book from each picture book section. My library organizes pictures books by theme, so I'll do a theme a week. By the way, thank goodness my kids aged out of this section before they went into this theme organization, because I'm still rather confused by it.

Then I'll move into middle grade books, and then decide how to approach the geometry of the adult shelves. 

Children's Picture Books:

Very Young

• I Am a Little Monkey, Francois Crozat. 
• Stick!, Andy Pritchett. 
• Peep and Egg: I'm Not Taking a Bath, Laura Gehl. 

Things That Go:

• Fire Truck Dreams, Sharon Chriscoe
• Otis and the Puppy, Loren Long

Stories:

• Lyric McKerrigan, Secret Librarian, Jacob Sager Weinstein
• The Not So Quiet Library, Zachariah OHora
• Singing Away the Dark, Caroline Woodward.
• In Plain Sight, Richard Jackson
• Peanut Butter & Cupcake, Terry Border

Sparkly

• The Birthday Queen, Audrey Wood
• Every Cowgirl Needs Dancing Boots, Rebecca Janni

Science and Nature

• Dig In, Cindy Jenson-Elliott. 
• My Rainy Day Rocket Ship, Markette Sheppard
• Pomelo Begins to Grow, Ramona Badescu & Benjamin Chaud. (MISSHELVED! This book is labeled SCIENCE AND NATURE but it is under RHYMES AND SONGS. Although why it is science when it's clearly philosophical I don't know)(On further investigation, I'm doing this backwards, and Science and Nature has one shelf on one side and two on the other)

Rhymes and Songs

• Marsupial Sue Presents "The Runaway Pancake", John Lithgow

Our World

• Nino Wrestles the World, Yuyi Morales
• Crane Boy, Diana Cohn

Life Issues

• Welcome to Bobville, Jonah Winter
• Mr Wayne's Masterpiece, Patricia Polacco
• In Our Mother's House, Patricia Polacco (I had already red this, so I grabbed another)
• The Buddy Bench, Patty Brozo

Feelings

• Very Grumpy Day, Stella Jones
• Parachute, Danny Parker (this was excellent)

Famous Friends

• Mr Lazy, Roger Hargreaves
• Arthur and the Baby, Marc Brown
• Amelia Bedelia's First Apple Pie, Herman Parish

Dinosaures

• If a T Rex Crashes Your Birthday Party, Jill Esbaum
• Dinosaur Vs The Library, Bob Shea

Concepts

• What Sound Is Morning, Grant Snider
• The Oliphant, Jess Brallier
• Ten on the Sled, Kim Norman

Bedtime

•  Pete the Cat and the Bedtime Blues, Kimberly & James Dean

Animals

• The Best Worst Poet Ever, Lauren Stohler
• It's Duffy Time!, Audrey Wood
• Little Mouse's Big Secret, Eric Battut
• Sterling, Best Dog Ever, Aidan Cassie
• Pokko and the Drum, Matthew Forsythe
• The Crocodile Under the Bed, Judith Kerr
• Sally's Snow Adventure, Stephen Huneck
• Harvey Potter's Balloon Farm, Jerdine Nolen.

Easy Readers

• Berenstain Bears Inside Outside Upside Down, Stan Berenstain
• Charlie the Ranch Dog: Stuck in the Mud, Ree Drummand
• Journey to Pluto, Drummer D. Brown.
• Pizza Mouse, Michael Garland
• Dear Dragon Goes to the Dentist, Margaret Hillert
• Search For the Spyglass, Melissa Lagronegro
• Phonics Comics: Spooky Sara, Melanie Marks
• The Bears Upstairs, Jane Belk Moncure
• Fancy Nancy and the Delectable Cupcakes, Jane O'Connor
• Mr. Putter and Tabby Hit the Slopes, Cynthia Rylant
• Nate the Great and the Fishy Prize, Marjorie Weinman Sharmat
• Emmett's Pig, Mary Stolz
• There Is A Bird On Your Head, Mo Willems
• Pig Wig, Harriet Ziffert

Easy Nonfiction

• Winning Well, Katie Peters
• At the Gurdwara, Shalini Vallepur
• Don't Waste Your Food, Deborah Chancellor
• My First Book of French Words, Katy R. Kudela
• Explore Mercury, Liz Milroy
• Stars Before Bedtime, Claire Grace & Dr Jessamy Hibberd
• Let's Talk About Animals, Harriet Blackford (PROBABLY MISSHELVED!) 
• Weather Words And What They Mean, Gail Gibbons
• Pipsqueaks, Slowpokes, and Stinkers, Melissa Stewart
• I See Sea Food, Jenna Grodzicki
• A Place for Turtles, Melissa Stewart
• Beavers, Emily K Green
• Honey Badgers, Margo Gates
• Gorillas, Gail Gibbons
• Deep Sea Dive (Magic School Bus), Samantha Brooke
• Zee Grows a Tree, Elizabeth Rusch
• Saving Stella: A Dog's Dramatic Escape From War, Bassel Abou Fakher
• Easter Hunt, Clever Publishing
• B Is For Baller, James Littlejohn
• Soccer, Tessa Kenan
• Great Explorers, James Buckley Jr. 
• This Is My State, Lisa Bullard

Easy Biography

• Because Claudette, Tracey Baptiste
• Nelson Mandela, Kadir Nelson
• Put Your Shoes On & Get Ready, Raphael Warnock
• Preaching to the Chickens: John Lewis, Jabari Asim
• Fabulous Flying Machines of Alberto Santos Dumont, Victoria Griffith

Fairy Tales

• The Little Red Hen: An Old Fable, Heather Forrest
• Adventures of Achilles, Hugh Lupton
• Through the Water Curtain and Other Tales From Around the World, Cordelia Funke
• The Tortoise and the Hare, Allison Richie
• The Cat With Seven Names, Tony Johnston

Holiday Stories

• Dinosaur Vs Santa, Bob Shea

Children's Audio CDs

• The Journey of Little Charlie, Christopher Paul Curtis
• Tin, Padraig Kenny 
• A Handful of Stars, Cynthia Lord
• Children of the Stone City, Beverley Naidoo
• Six Children and a Stuffed Cat, Gary Paulsen
• The Creeping Shadow, Jonathan Stroud 
• Sammy Keyes and the Powers of Justice Jack, Wendelin Van Draanin 
• Eugene Returns!, AIO Team

Childrens Music

• Lullabies, Laurie Burkner
• Country Music Lullabies, Vol 1
• Country Goes Raffi
• Daddy-O-Daddy, Woodie Guthrie
• Triathlon, Rollie Polie Guacamole
• Here Comes Science, They Might Be Giants
• A Child's Hanukkah, Jewish Wedding Band
• Science Fair
• Lullabies From Around the World, Beijing Angelic Choir
• Lullaby Tribute to Taylor Swift
• Disney Villains: Simply Sinister Songs
• Rough Guide to World Lullabies
• Kids Bop 26

Skipping Children foreign languages 

Skipping Children’s Movies

Children’s Graphic Novels

• Sea Sirens, Amy Chu
• Peter and Ernesto, Sloths in the Night, Annabelle Graham
• Kid Beowulf:the Rise of El CID, Alexis E. Fajardo
• Pirate Penguin Vs Ninja Chicken 1: Troublems With Frenemies, Ray Friesen
• The Night Librarian, Christopher Lincoln. 
• The Legend of the Coral Caves, Megan Miller.
• The Leak, Kate Perry. 
• The Golden Hour, Nikki Smith
• Pizzasaurus Rex, Justin Wagner
• The Secret Garden on 81 St, Ivy Noelle Weir
• Neil Armstrong First Man on the Moon, James Buckley Jr

Children’s Fiction

• Eva Evergreen and the Cursed Witch, Julie Abe 
• Endling: The First, Katherine Applegate 
• Some Sunny Day, Adam Baron
• Alex Wise Vs the Cosmic Shift, Terry J. Benton-Walker 
• The Library of Unruly Treasures, Jeanne Birdsall (current)
• Josephine Against the Sea, Shakirah  Bourne
• Across the Desert, Dusty Bowling
• Nazi Prison Camp Escape, Michael Burgan

Reading My Library

I've been working on my Library Quest for over five years now, a Quest to read a book from each shelf of the library. Things paused a while when they closed the library for a few years to bring it up to modern specs, but it looks like they put fewer books back in so maybe it will all balance out.

Oh no! There was a major leak when a pipe burst and then that affecte other things, and the library will be closed again for MONTHS! (Jan 2022 reporting in)

Current Sections
I'm currently working along the down river wall of the library, since the children's section is there and that is the section where I ended before the renovation. The first shelves are CDs (music), which I've officially skipped I don't count those slider things as shelves. Then comes audio CDs, which will take (took me) me years, and then Large Print. Now I'm in Fiction, which again will take me years.

Fiction: (A-F completed)
The Spider's War, Daniel Abraham. 6/27/16
The Darling Dahlias and the Eleven O'Clock Lady, Susan Wittig Albert. 6/28/16
First Frost, Sarah Addison Allen. 6/14/16
Magic Shifts, Ilona Andrews. 6/20/16
The Stolen McKenzie Bride, Jennifer Ashley 4/22/17

The Crocodile's Last Embrace, Suzanne Arruda 8/5/16
Lights Out, Donald Bain 8/24/16
Only Enchanting, Mary Balogh 7/25/16
Memory Man, David Balducci 10/31/16
Karen Memory, Elizabeth Bear 9/7/16

Nursing Homes Are Murder, Mike Belefer 10/14/16
A Shocking Delight, Jo Beverley 1/25/17
Ghost of a Potion, Heather Blake 5/25/17
Desperate Hearts, Rosanne Bittner 8/15/17 (they redid the shelves a bit!)
Remnants of Trust, Elizabeth Bonesteel 7/28/17

(new row)
1.
Out of Range, C.J. Box 8/30/17
Vanishing Time, Katharine Britton 9/14/17
Murder on a Summer Day, Frances Brody 11/2/17
Geared for the Grave, Duffy Brown 11/1/17
The Divided Family, Wanda Brunstetter 10/20/17
2
Make Me Stay, Jaci Burton 12/3/17
Treasured by Thursday, Catherine Bybee 1/11/18
The Last Neanderthal, Clare Cameron 12/30/17
Benedict Hall, Cate Campbell 1/17/18
The Chocolate Bunny Brouhaha, Joanna Carl 1/13/18
3
Prudence, Gail Carriger 1/27/18
Potions and Pastries, Bailey Cates 2/19/18
Sarah's Orphans, Vannetta Chapman 2/28/18
Worth Dying For, Lee Child 3/10/18
All By Myself, Alone, Mary Higgins Clark 4/18/18
4
Glow of Death, Jane Cleland 4/22/18
Black Sands, Colleen Coble 5/21/18
Ancestral Machines, Michael Cobley 7/11/18
No Farm, No Foul, Meg Cochran 7/21/18
5
The Burning Page, Genevieve Cogman 7/31/18
Long Time Gone, Mary Connealy 8/22/18
Honor Among Thieves, James S. A. Corey 11/12/18
I Shot the Buddha, Colin Cotterill 1/30/19
6
Split Second, Catherine Coulter 4/8/19
Pines, Blake Crouch 5/21/19
Green and Pleasant Land, Judith Cutler 8/9/19
The Gentle Art of Murder, Jeanne Dams 9/23/19
7
Kill the Farm Boy, Delilah Dawson & Kevin Hearne 2/25/20
The Ballad of Huck & Miguel, Tim DeRoche 6/16/20

Medicus, Ruth Downie 5/10/22

Forever Strong, Piper J. Drake 8/29/21

8

The Deepest Blue, Sarah Beth Durst 10/15/22

Breach of Trust, Rachel Dylan 3/24/23

How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse, K. Eason 6/3/23

Axiom's End, Lindsay Ellis 6/8/23

A Half-Built Garden,  Ruthanna Emyrs 6/18/23

(new row)

1

Faceoff, Ed. David Baldacci 9/13/23

Creative Surgery, Clelia Farris 12/13/23

Final Acts, Martin Edwards, 3/5/23

Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Murder, Joanne Fluke 5/14/24

2

For the Sake of the Game, Ed by Laurie King 8/10/24

Guilty Not Guilty, Felix Francis 11/14/24

Nightwoods, Charles Frazier 2/17/2t

Future of Silence: Fiction By Korean Women, 4/28/25

3

The Autobiography of Miss Jann Pittman, Earnest J. Gaines 7/2/25

Ayiti, Roxane Gay. 9/23/25

Ice Cold, Tess Garritson 12/2/25

Pandemic: 

So, I asked the librarian if she would go to my shelf and grab me a book, but her boss said they had no time. Fair enough -- they look a bit shell-shocked with the start of Curbside Pickup. To tide me over, I got a bag of offerings and will be using those for my shelf stand-ins for the duration.

MYSTERY/THRILLER PICK: Wolf Rebel, Paige Tyler 12/03/20

ROMANCE PACK: Her Naughty Holiday, Tiffany Reisz 10/26/20,

FICTION PACK: Temporary, Hilary Leichter 5/1/2021

FANTASY PACK: Stars Abound 

Kidlit: Curses for Sale

Audio (Completed!): 
Dead Heat, Patricia Briggs
The High Druid's Blade, Terry Brooks
Lord of Scoundrels, Loretta Chase
Rendezvous, Nelson DeMille
The Heist, Janet Evanovich & Lee Goldberg
Hild, Nicola Griffiths 4/13/16
Between Planets, Robert Heinlein 1/28/16
Unnatural Causes,  P. D. James 5/7/16
Left For Dead, J.A Jance 6/8/16
Flight Behavior, Barbara Kingsolver 9/8/16
Changes, Mercedes Lackey 8/23/16
Falling in Love, Donna Leon 9/19/16
The Corsican Caper, Peter Mayle 9/30/16
Once a Rancher, Linda Miller 11/2/16
League of Dragons, Naomi Novak 4/5/17
Boy, Snow, Bird, Helen Oyeyemi 5/24/17
The Late Scholar, Jill Paton Walsh 9/30/17 (long gap due to listening to Cybils books)
Little Fuzzy, H. Beam Piper 10/24/17
Wonderland in Death, J.D. Robb 11/2/17
First Impressions, Nora Roberts 12/3/17
Whose Body?, Dorothy Sayers 12/19/17
The Rosie Project, Graeme Simsion 2/7/18
Homesman, Glendon Swarthout 1/15/18
London Rain, Nicola Upson 4/20/18
Bruno and the Carol Singers, Martin Walker 4/25/18
Laughing Gas, P.G. Wodehouse 5/16/18

(nonfiction audio starts)
How We Learn, Benedict Carey 6/7/18
Grunt, Mary Roach 7/20/18
The Compleat Gentleman, Brad Minor 9/10/18
Stiff, Mary Roach 10/28/18
Save Room For Pie, Roy Blount 12/13/18

In Such Good Company, Carol Burnett 2/18/19
The Road to Little Dribbling, Bill Bryson 4/11/19
You Don't Have to Say You Love Me, Sherman Alexie 5/23/19
The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion  6/10/19
Stories of My Life, Katherine Paterson 7/17/19


Large Print (completed):
Shelves R-Nonfiction:
Sisterland, Curtis Sittenfeld 5/14/16
A Spool of Blue Thread, Anne Tyler 4/30/16
Lafayette in the Somewhat United States, Sarah Vowell 5/10/16
Living With a Wild God, Barbara Ehrenreich 5/17/16
Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, Jon Meacham  6/2/16
Shelves M - R
The Miracle at Speedy Motors, Alexander McCall Smith
God Help the Child, Toni Morrison 2/16/16
Miracle at Augusta, James Patterson & Peter de Jonge 2/29/16
The Secrets of Sir Richard Kenworthy, Julia Quinn 3/10/16
Airtight, David Rosenfelt 4/2/16
Shelves F - M
Songs From Willow Frost, Jamie Ford
Dick Francis's Refusal, Felix Francis
Stakeout, Parnell Hall
City of Saints, Andrew Hunt
Dreaming Spies, Laurie R. King
Shelves A- D
Stone Mattress, Margaret Atwood
Breaking Dawn, C.J. Box
Ming Tea Murder, Laura Childs
Almost Amish, Kathryn Cushman
The Blacksmith's Bravery, Susan Page Davis

Progress:

Back in 2010 when I started this Quest, the Children's section was in the front of the library, just off the entrance. The children's section consisted of

1. Picture Books
2. Series Books
3. Fiction Books
4. Nonfiction
5. Easy Readers

And then they closed the library and tore out the insides, so now I've moved into the rebuilt adult section. And there I've completed:

1. Large Print
2. Audio A-Z, 
3. Fiction A-E.