On Hold @ the Library: May ’09

Time for another edition of On Hold @ the Library. Let’s just take a look at our holds shelf and see what we’ve got. Oh. Yeah. That’s right. Since the end of the school year is nigh, holds are no longer being taken. To make a (not very long) story short, I got nothin’.

(Thinking)

After seconds of careful thought, I have a plan. Instead of showing you books on hold, I’ll go through circulation records of each of the schools I work at and let you know which books got checked out the most this year. We can call it The Most Circulated @ the Library. A fair trade? A reasonable sample of the books kids are reading? I hope you’re saying yes right now. Let me reiterate that these lists are just showing the facts and have not been tampered with in any way.

Kindergarten – 2^nd Grade School:

#1: The Field Guide (The Spiderwick Chronicles, Book 1) by Tony DiTerlizzi.

#2: Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy by Jane O’Connor.

#3: The Spiderwick Chronicles: Care and Feeding of Sprites by Tony DiTerlizzi.

Someone introduced Spiderwick Chronicles to the 2nd graders in a big way this year. The other books in that series were all also near the top. But Fancy Nancy, whom girls really can’t get enough of, only fell short of the #1 slot by two checkouts.

Kindergarten – 4^th Grade School:

#1: Out From Boneville (Bone #1) by Jeff Smith.

#2: Rodrick Rules (Diary of a Wimpy Kid #2) by Jeff Kinney.

#3 Captain Underpants and the Invasion… by Dav Pilkey.

And they say boys aren’t reading. I’m going to keep this list handy (or at least a mental version – *click*) for the next time that topic of conversation comes up.

3^rd Grade – 4^th Grade School:

#1: Guinness Book of World Records 2006 by Craig Glenday.

#2: Legend of the Worst Boy in the World by Eoin Colfer.

#3: The World According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney.

2006 must have been a good year. It’s funny because we have more recent Guinness Books on the shelf. That one must have all the good records in it. Is it just me, or do you love the Eoin Colfer’s Legend of… series too? The Legend of Spud Murphy is one of the best read-alouds you can ask for. As much fun for the reader as for the readees.

5^th Grade – 6^th Grade School:

#1: Guinness Book of World Records 2005 by Claire Folkard.

#2: Ghost Circles (Bone #7) by Jeff Smith.

#3: The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick.

You’ve got to be kidding me – Guinness again? Hey, I can’t complain – I used to read those books like crazy when I was in my younger days. Only back then, they were those insanely thick black and white versions. Seeing Bone reappear is no shocker, although just #7 is a slight head-scratcher. I’m very happy to see Cabret make the list.

Looks like On Hold @ the Library will be on hold for the next couple months due to summer vacation. Look for a return at the end of September.

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