Library Loot

Today I took my mom to the library to see a harp concert. There were 12 harpists, ages 12-22, and over 400 people in attendance. (Yes, we have an awesome library for a small town!) I snuck off in the middle of the concert to hunt down some books, videos, tapes, etc. I could hear the concert while I was searching, but I thought I'd better get my books before those 400 people started roaming through the library!

Here's my loot:

For my own reading: The Birth House (by Ami McKay), The Bookseller of Kabul (Asne Seierstad) and Conversations with the Fat Girl (by Liza Palmer) and recommended a long time ago to me by Kristina
For my 11-year-old: Steal Away Home (by Lois Ruby)--to go along with our slavery unit
For my high-schooler: Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong (by James W. Loewen)
Audiobooks for my young 'uns: A Wrinkle in Time and Number the Stars
Movies for our jungle unit: The Magic School Bus In the Rainforest and National Geographic's Totally Tropical Rain Forest.

I began reading Lies My Teacher Told Me while I was waiting for the harp concert to finish, and I've now added it to my reading list, as well. I was instantly mesmerized.

Back at home, I'm still in the middle of reading Cormac McCarthy's The Road. I'm hoping I don't have apocalyptic dreams like I did after I read Neville Shute's On the Beach years ago.

And that was my day at the library, sans children but with my mother. Check out more library loot posts here at The Striped Armchair.

Library Loot

There's a fun new weekly going on over at The Striped Armchair called "Library Loot." The idea is to post your library haul each week (or each time you visit). I don't necessarily go to the library every week; I'm more of a biweekly library patron. But we did go yesterday, and here is what we checked out:
My America, Corey's Underground Railroad Diary: Freedom's Wings; Message in the Sky; and Flying Free
Meet Addy and Addy Learns a Lesson
Alec's Primer by Mildred Pitts Walter
The Wagon by Tony Johnston
Show Way by Jacqueline Woodson
Under the Quilt of Night by Deborah Hopkinson


We are finishing up our slavery unit next week. We've already read Uncle Tom's Cabin (an abridged version), Freedom Train: The Story of Harriet Tubman, and If You Traveled on the Underground Railroad, so I wanted to finish off with some picture books. Oh, we also went to the library's winter book sale while we were there, and I found Frederick Douglass Fights for Freedom, so we'll read that this week, too.

I didn't get any books for myself because I already have three checked out. I've read two but haven't yet reviewed them here. Both were fantastic: Mary Lawson's The Other Side of the Bridge (stunning) and the much-praised Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (excellent). I'm currently reading Kate Morton's All Good Gifts, which is rather sappy.

And that's our week at our library! Visit other library finds, or participate yourself, at this week's Library Loot.