I'm back!

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I had a fun weekend, hanging out at the beach, attending a wedding reception, and trying (mostly uselessly) to help out with said reception, which was for my friend's daughter.  We also had some exciting moments, like when we were driving down I-5 and got a flat tire.  We managed to pull over okay, but we were at the top of an overpass, on a shoulder that was barely wide enough for the car, with an endless procession of giant semi trucks passing by -- inches away, shaking not only us but the overpass too.  We waited for about an hour before the tow truck came to rescue us.  Hooray for the CHP and AAA!

The view from our car, stranded on an overpass
We visited my home town, or at least, the town where I went to junior high and high school.  My family has long since moved away, but I still have some friends there and I like to go down once a year to see people and hit the beach.  This time, we visited the new branch library.  You should know that when I was a kid, my mom (also a librarian) sometimes worked at the teeny library branch near our house, and just a few years ago, it moved to a lovely new location which is much larger.  Well, I was browsing through the books, and in the YA section, I was amazed to see THESE:


These books (and more of the same series) were on the shelf of the old teeny branch when I was there, 25+ years ago.  They were old and ugly THEN, and effectively turned me off reading the Anne books (until the movie came out and I saw Jonathan Crombie and got my own new paperbacks).  I remember them because they were so awful.  Presumably, the generations of young readers who came after me also didn't want them, because here they are, 47 years old, and still holding together.
 

So, I hope you all had a lovely weekend and will enjoy your fireworks (where applicable), and I'll post again after the holiday.  Oh, and a bonus anniversary: my husband and I got -- unexpectedly -- engaged 22 years ago today, after an Oakland A's game and fireworks show.

Comments

  1. CleoJuly 4, 2017 at 11:06 PM

    You're back and I'll be gone now for a couple of weeks. Presto chango! :-)

    Being Canadian, it took me awhile to understand AAA. At first I thought it was Alcoholics Anonymous and I wondered why you were thanking them. What could they have to do with a flat tire? Then I figured out American Automobile Association! Finally it was all clear. I'm going away to laugh now ... ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. JeanJuly 5, 2017 at 7:33 AM

    Ha! Sorry, I should have explained! AAA is really handy because it's cheap, but gives you four free tows a year. So if you get stranded, you don't have to worry about finding and paying a tow truck; you just call AAA and they rescue you. The guy towed us a few miles down the road to an obscure truck stop, put the spare on, and got us on our way.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kristen M.July 5, 2017 at 1:18 PM

    One of my goals in Z's elementary library over the seven years I volunteered there was to bring old editions of good books to the librarian's attention and try to help get them replaced so that kids would pick them up. Bad children's book cover designers are evil! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. JeanJuly 6, 2017 at 8:18 AM

    Yay Kristen! Yeah, I can see how frugal folks will think "Well, it's perfectly good, we can't throw it out," but the fact is that people (not just kids either) won't be attracted to hideous books. If your goal is to have people check books out and read them, you have to get attractive copies!

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