Library Sale Report (Sale Date May 5, 2006)

For those of you who like to hear about books and library sales here is a report for you about my experience the other day. If you don’t know it already we homeschool our children and we use real books for most of the content. We call very good books “living books” and it is those books which I most want to read and own. I would prefer to pay 50 cents or $1 for a book and own it rather than searching the book out at a library to borrow (and pay late fines on if we are not finished with it or if we get so busy that I forget to return it or to renew it). I can’t afford to buy all of these books new so book hunting for used books at library sales is something I enjoy doing. I am a big reader and hope that my children will also love to read and will be voracious readers. Not only do I buy books we can use right now but I buy books to use in the future with my children as well as buying books for me and my husband.

I had a very busy and stressful week. I had seen signs around announcing my a used book/library sale was going to be held Saturday and Sunday. I didn’t give it much thought due to more pressing issues going on, and knowing I already own probably way too many books (over 4200).

However I was sitting at the computer at 6:55pm on Friday night May 5 and I was thinking about the library sale, and I realized that in the past they had always had a preview sale on Friday nights, but that the preview was not advertised on the signs I had seen. I went online to check the library’s website for details but there was nothing on the site about the book sale. So then I went to www.booksalefinder.com and indeed that reported that there was a preview sale from 7pm to 9pm that night.

Dinner was ready so I went to eat. It took only a few minutes to eat. We discussed the sale and it was decided that I’d go. I left the kids at home with my husband and went on my merry way.

I was not in a rush because I didn’t want to be there at that first fast rush of the book dealers which I find so annoying. This library sale is small (they say 3000 books) and the room is small and I hate being crammed in there with the dealers.

I arrived at 7:20pm to an almost full parking lot. Some dealers were loading multiple boxes into their cars, and getting ready to leave (already!). When I walked in there were perhaps only twenty adults and three or four children. It was very calm and peaceful, to my amazement.

Every book was 50 cents. The main focus for adult’s books was on paperbacks and it was advertised as a “paperback book sale”. However the children’s section had hardbacks as well.

I headed right to the art section as I wanted to see if they had any fine art history books or books on collage. There were no art books there at all. However a dealer was in that spot culling his selections and was dumping business books in the art section. Groan. (Later I returned to look at the books the dealer had discarded and found a few art books and purchased them.)

I went to the children’s section. I was surprised to see more children’s books than I had ever seen before, at this library’s sales. They had hundreds of toddler books and lots of regular picture books. I saw ‘Five in a Row’ titles and classics and popular good books by great authors. I saw many of my favorites there which we already own so I left them there. They also had loads of the Dr. Seuss type books. There were also American Girl books there. There were tons of animal books, dinosaurs, lizards, etc. I left so much there as we already own enough of that stuff so I don't even look at some of the non-fiction books any more lest I be temped to buy them, ha ha.

All the books were donated from private people and many of the children’s books were in like new condition or are barely used.

They had lots and lots of beginning readers and I was impressed with the quality such as nonfiction science and nonfiction history leveled readers (level 1, Level 2, etc.). They had a ton of Boxcar Children books and Magic Tree House and lots of the other popular series books. There was a stack of Nancy Drew and also Hardy Boys. There were still many history and science books. There were maze books and activity puzzle books. I saw lots of classics as well (Mark Twain, etc.) and lots of teen fiction too (all the summer reading book list books are there). Of course there were hundreds of twaddle selections including Baby Sitters Club and Goosebumps.

The biography section (adult) did have books for children/teens also.

The children at the sale were looking for Junie B. Jones books and two boys were looking for Animorph books. Another boy came and wanted only Goosebumps books. A girl was looking for quite some time but was not finding anything she wanted to read.

I was saddened to hear a mother tell her son (about age 7) that he picked out too many books and that he’d have to put some back. You cannot tell me that the family could not afford to buy the small number of books that he wanted. I think every child should have every book they want unless it is twaddle or is inappropriate content (especially when the price is just 50 cents).

I overheard a funny conversation between a mother and her son right before I left. He was about 9 or 10 years old and was picking out some real twaddle. He picked one Animorph book out and she asked him to find just one “good fiction” book which she defined as something not like Goosebumps or Animorphs. He was coming up empty handed. There was not much there but I suggested the Redwall books which I saw (but had since been purchased by someone). She had never heard of the Redwall series. I also suggested “Lord of the Rings” and handed that to him but he said “yuck”. It was too bad there really was not anything there that was good for a boy of that age left for me to guide them to. Most of the chapter books left at that point were teen-girl oriented. There were not even any historical fiction books that were any good left. This is a common dilemma in the book world, finding chapter books for boys of that age which are not pure garbage yet are not the older classics (which there were none of left either).

I made sure to check the other ‘adult’ sections as well such as biography (which had ‘juvenile’ biography), classics, literature, history, science, nature, and health.

They had probably 300 VHS videos all for 50 cents, loads of Thomas the Tank Engine and other preschool type videos. Tons of Disney VHS and other G rated movies. I bought two videos: a Jimmy Buffett music concert for me and a dinosaur documentary.

There were a few boxes of adult audio books as well. I found a set of four dramaticized radio shows based on classic literature books.

One funny thing was I put a box of books down at the cashier’s desk and went back to get the other box. When I went to pay I saw a book on top of my box which I didn’t pick out to purchase. I said, “This isn’t my book.” Then I realized that maybe it would be a good book. It was fiction novel, one of the Oprah Book Club books that I had never heard of. I wondered if there was some reason that someone would have put this in my box and maybe there was something in it that I should read (was that God’s way of telling me I am meant to read it or something?). The cashier said it was a very good story so I bought it.

I found more books than I had anticipated. I chose 126 books for a cost of $63. I am a sucker for a bargain. It is just so tempting for me to buy a book because it is 50 cents so I end up buying a lot. To justify this I make the comparison that if I had purchased four new hardback picture books it would have cost me about $80. So to spend $63 on 126 books is not too bad. And after all, it is a fundraiser for the library. And if I don’t like them I can donate them back to the library and could get a tax write-off for the donation (if we made any income and were paying income taxes).

The books filled four small boxes. When I got home I brought them right into the house. I sat in the family library and sorted them by category onto the coffee table. My sons were thrilled to see some of the books I found and they immediately picked some to start reading. This is the first time that they have done this and it made my heart sing! This is what I have always wanted for my children.

That night both of my sons stayed up reading after we tucked them into bed. My older son ended up staying up until 1:30am reading. (I was fast asleep and didn’t know that was going on.) We know this because at 1:30am he woke up my husband to complain he was still awake and lonely and didn’t like being the last one in the house who was awake, so he wanted to come into our bed to sleep with us. (I was so tired I didn’t even hear him and I didn’t even know that indeed he was in our bed until I woke up in the morning.)

Today I am sorting the books. I will put them into my Excel spreadsheet and then will sort them and put some on shelves and will put others away, the ones which are to read when they are older. I spread them out on the floor and took a photo to share with you.

Here is the list of books that I purchased at this sale. There may be a few missing because my children took some to read and ran off with them before I could catalogue them. I had trouble making a nice table that would format correctly with all the information such as author and category, so I am settling for providing a list of titles in alphabetical order.

A Rat's Tale
Alaska a travel survival kit
All my patients are under the bed
Amazing Facts about Australia Discover and Learn Volume 8
Annotated Chinese Proverbs
Arthur's Chicken Pox
Arthur's Thanksgiving
Arthur's Tooth
At Home in the Woods
Better Not Get Wet, Jesse Bear
Bill and Pete Go Down the Nile
Butterflies: A First Discovery Book
Castles
Cat's Cradle, Jacob's Ladder, Eiffel Tower, Cup & Saucer, Witch's Broom A book of string figures
Charlie Needs a Cloak
Cricket magazine Feb 1993
Cut & Assemble a Medieval Castle a full-color model of Caernarvon Castle in Wales
Danger on Midnight River
Dear America: The Great Railroad Race The Diary of Libby West Utah Territory, 1868
Dick Whittington and His Cat
Dinotopia Pop-up Book
Dinotopia River Quest
Disaster Science
Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book
Early Thunder
Electricity Eyewitness Science
Ethan Frome
Fall on Your Knees
Fun with Scripture lectionary word searches and bible crossword puzzles
Go In and Out the Window an illustrated songbook for young people
Goggles!
Guinness World Records 2003
Hammond Historical Atlas of the World newly revised edition
Harris and Me
Heidi
Hildilid's Night
Horse Paintings 30 full color postcards to keep or send
How to book of concrete and masonry
How to work with tools and wood
Japanese picture book
Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear?
Jimmy Buffett Live by the Bay
Joseph Koudelka
Junior Great Books Series 7
Jurassic Park the Junior Novelization
Langenscheidt's German English Dictionary
Let's be safe
Living Anatomy a photographic atlas of muscles in action and surface contours
Lost Country Life How English country folk lived, worked, threshed, thatched, rolled fleece, milled corn, brewed mead…
Maggie and the Pirate
Magic School Bus Chapter book #3 The Wild Whale Watch
Magic Tree House #6: Afternoon on the Amazon
Magic Tree House #7 Sunset of the Sabertooth
Mainstreams of Modern Art second edition
Mammal Eyewitness books
Mensa Publications presents world puzzles for language geniuses 200 mind-numbing & bewitching brain teasers
Mickey's Magnet
Misty of Chincoteague
Mount Vernon Virginia an illustrated handbook
Mr. Gumpy's Outing
My Favorite Football Stories
New Orleans facts and legends
Old Black Fly
One Fine Day
Other People's Children Cultural Conflict in the Classroom
Paper Soldiers of the Civil War Volume 1: soldiers of 1861
Photoanalysis
Pond Life: A Golden Guide
Portraits of Native Americans: Library of Congress a book of postcards
Radiobooks: David Copperfield Tape 4
Radiobooks: Lost Horizon
Radiobooks: The Pit and the Pendulum & The Tell Tale Heart
Radiobooks: Treasure Island
Red Scarf Girl A Memoir of the cultural revolution
Redwall with full color illustrations
Scottish Battles
See It and Say it in Italian
Shane
Shiloh
Spanish Stories
Star Wars Episode I Incredible Cross Sections
Star Wars Episode I The Visual Dictionary
Star Wars Journal Hero For Hire
Star Wars Missions #10 Showdown in Mos Eisley
Star Wars Missions #11 Bounty Hunters vs. Battle Droids
Star Wars Missions #12 The Vactooine Disaster
Star Wars Missions #13
Star Wars Missions #14
Star Wars Missions #6 The Search for Grubba the Hutt
Star Wars Missions #7 Ithorian Invasion
Star Wars Queen of the Empire
Taggerung (Redwall)
Teaching as a Subversive Activity
The Autobiography of Mark Twain
The Bellmaker (Redwall)
The Berenstain Bears and too much Junk Food
The Boats on the River
The Cat in the Hat Dictionary in French Beginner Book
The Dragons of Blueland
The Great Kapok Tree: a tale of the Amazon rain forest
The Kids' Book of Kaleidoscopes
The Magic School Bus Hello Out There a sticker book about the solar system
The Memphis Diary of Ida B. Wells An Intimate Portrait of the Activist as a young woman
The Middle Ages A History of Britain
The Mini Treasure Chest of Great Fairy Tales
The Missing Piece
The Mysterious Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The Power and the Glory
The Reason for a flower
The Remarkable Farkle McBride
The Road from Coorain
The Shaman's Apprentice: a tale of the Amazon rain forest
The Sky Dog
The Third Millennium a history of the world: AD 2000-3000
The Titanic: The Extraordinary story of the "unsinkable" ship
The Valley of the Far Side
The Wild West
The World's Great Circus
To Have and to Have Not
T-Rex The Ultimate Guide
Trip Trap
Under the Tuscan Sun
Usborne Superpuzzles advanced level map & maze puzzles
We Like it Wild
Welcome to the Sea of Sand
Whistle for Willie
Writing Down the Bones
Yes & Know Civil War 1861-1865 Book 2

Other Notes
Some of the chapter books, specifically the Star Wars series books and the Jurassic Park book may be twaddle. However, my sons are huge Star Wars fans so I am pleased to have discovered these books for them.

My younger son (aged 5.5) is reading chapter books with ease. He no longer wants to read picture books. I am trying to figure out a way to encourage him to read more picture books, or perhaps that may only be done as read-aloud’s from me.

The foreign language adult level books are old and printed on cheap paper, the paper is foxed and fragile. I plan to use these to make art projects with.

I was pleased to find ‘Dr. Susan Love’s Breast Book’ as I didn’t own it previously and it was the book which was most highly recommended to me by doctors during my mother’s Breast Cancer treatment. Since I am now at an increased risk for getting Breast Cancer I need to increase my own awareness and knowledge about breast health (beyond breastfeeding and lactation information).

I was happy to find two books by Bradford Angier as he is a favorite author of my 95 year old grandmother and I had not read his books. The two Angier books I bought were in the nature section and are about leaving city life to live in the wilderness in a self-sufficient way. I love reading books on that subject and since about age 20 have had a little fantasy of running away to live in a log cabin in the Brooks Range of Alaska and living in isolation and being self-sufficient.

I was happy to find a full color illustrated version of Redwall (which we haven’t read yet) and also two of the sequels which we don’t yet own. I am trying to collect the full series.

In case anyone is wondering, the book count in my Excel spreadsheet now is at 4354. Not every book I own is in the spreadsheet.

Technorati Tags: homeschooling, books, used books, library sale, living books.