48 Books

When I went online today to see what books were coming due at the library, I noticed that I had 48 books checked out. Our library has a limit of 50 books per card. When you check out a book, you get it for three weeks. You can then renew it online two more times (unless someone has requested it and it's on hold). 50 sounds like a lot of books, but when you can keep them for 9 weeks, you tend to stockpile books. 

Before I checked books out for the children, I never reached the limit. Not once. The children have their own library cards, but we don't always think to grab them before we leave the house. My library card is in my wallet at all times (except when it's in Mark's wallet because he's picking up a hold for me).

What are the children currently reading? Bentley finished all the Bailey School Kids books that he had not read that he could find at the library. There are over 50 books in the series plus special editions. They do not need to be read in order. The library has most of the regular titles; I'm not sure about the specials. Jake is just starting to read the series, although it was he who chose them a few weeks ago to bring home from the library. 

Viva hasn't read any Bailey School Kids books yet. She is reading The Princess School series. Viva also likes to check out the larger, nicely illustrated picture books from the library. They have a story as well as pictures, but the book is as much about the pictures as the words. The boys aren't interested in that section of the library. 

Jake asked for books on the space shuttle when we are at the library. His dad takes him up the adult section to find science books. I had to drag him over to the children's nonfiction section and convince him to give them a try. There are lots of children's books on space exploration. It'll be interesting to see if he wants to look in this section on our next library visit.

All three children have been reading The Magic Tree House series. There are 50 books in this series with a new one published every few months. Bentley read some of them over a year ago and then he recently found them again when wandering the library stacks. He has been gobbling them up. They are quite short. He read an entire one while at the quilt store with me the other day. (They are 80 pages long, but some of those pages have illustrations on them and the font is quite large.)