Today we had school, even though major snow flurries fell intermittently throughout the day (though not much was sticking ...)
So ... I had my 8th graders. 
In the first section there was a boy who had at least three different times this year mentioned to me a series of books that the library has the first one of, but not the rest. Last year's librarian had told him she'd get the rest with bookfair money ... didn't happen.
So today I got the pleasure of telling him that I had the third and fourth book in the series here and ready to be checked out, and the second one should be here by Wednesday ready to be checked out. He got the biggest smile on his face. He went ahead and checked out 3 and 4, and asked me again if he could come by on Wednesday and check out 2. I told him of course.
I'd gotten books 3 and 4 from book closeouts and they came in last week. Book 2 I'd gotten from Amazon, but the first time I ordered it I sent it to my old address and was unable to cancel it even though I realized my mistake 20 seconds later. Ugh! So I got that refunded (after it was sent back to Amazon) and reordered.
Then in my afternoon section I had the distinct pleasure of informing an 8th grade girl that the second book in a series had come in and was waiting with her name on it. We both got big grins on our faces == another girl that was nearby asked "what're ya'll so happy about?" I told her, "Books, of course."
I found the book on Amazon for $3, along with a 4th book I hadn't know existed in the series. We had books 1 and 3.
---
I also gave very quick booktalks on about a dozen books to each of the 8th grade sections today. The books that flew out of my hands (after talking about them) were "The Graveyard Book", "Among the Hidden", "How They Croaked (Stories of Famous People's Death's)", "Charlie ??? Guide to NOT Reading" (I had two copies of this one which both were taken) , Trickster Tales (graphic novel format), and another graphic novel -- The Magic Pickle.
I also had an 8th grade girl ask me if I had another copy of the book "Smile" which I'd put out with the sixth grade class last Friday. (It's about a girl who loses her two front teeth in a freak accident and all the orthodontia nightmares and personal angst that follows - in graphic novel format.)
So ... today left me with a pretty darn good smile, if I do say so.
---
Oh something else cool. I'm starting a program where every week that a kid brings back *all* their library books they'll get a "ticket." Then every other week I'll draw 5 names from 2 - 5, and 5 names from 6 - 8 for prizes. The prizes include posters, bookmarks, stickers, books, and Dibs tickets. Dibs tickets are where a student can tell me the name of a school appropriate book they think we need, and when it comes in, they get first "dibs" on it.
When I was explaining this to the 4th grade Mon section today, one of the kids came up with a free prize --- a ticket for an extra checkout!!! I almost hugged her.
I told the kids that if any of the I-Spy books come back (with our stamp) that they'd be worth 3 tickets. Our catalog says we should have 7 of them ... and there are 0 anywhere to be found. They are a frequently requested item too.
----
So all of this made my 6 plus hours of cataloging yesterday WAY worth it.
Although I didn't get my lesson plans turned in today ... oops. (Of course I heard from various sources that the computer teacher last year *rarely* turned hers in .. if she ever did. Not that I'm going to follow suit, but a day or two late is probably not going to get me in too much trouble.) 
Put A Smile On My Face :D (Library related)
November 8th, 2011 at 04:13 am
November 8th, 2011 at 01:57 pm 1320760640
I love to hear that you are loving the new job!
I remember how delighted the junior room librarian was when my daughter asked to reserve the third installment of "The Mysterious Benedict Society" book months in advance. She's started reading "The Hunger Game" series which I wasn't happy about, but seems to be a popular book that most parents don't have problems with. Funny I feel that way, since my 8th grader is reading Edgar Allen Poe and loving it.
November 8th, 2011 at 09:11 pm 1320786691
November 9th, 2011 at 12:26 am 1320798361
I don't much care for the Hunger Games series myself (or Harry Potter ..) We don't have the Hunger Games in the library (and since there are many other books I'd like to get into their hands ... low priority). Harry Potter seems to do a fair business grade 4 - 8.
It is really awesome when kids are so excited about books, or a series of books, that they wait in great anticipation for the next one.
MEC,
If they ever were on the shelves, the Diary of a Wimpy kid books probably would be in the top 5 for 4th grade - they definitely are for 5th and up. I tried to figure out how to get top titles for just one homeroom/grade, but could only get circulation stats. Popular books from second - fifth are the Captain Underpants books, anything to do with Drawing, Origami books, books about zombies, witches, and other monsters/alien type stuff, horses, etc. Oh, also books by Hale (Murder My Tweet) and of course Goosebumps (mostly anything by R L Stine.) Almost forgot
I've been surprised that the Babysitter books aren't very popular - at my mentor's library in TX, the BSC and Sweet Valley Twins were both very popular.
November 9th, 2011 at 04:30 am 1320813016
November 9th, 2011 at 02:21 pm 1320848502
MEC, Do you have a 4th grader? My son is in 4th grade and I was suprised to see that there is a "girl" equivalent of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which I think is a Diary of Dork or something along those lines. Haven't read it, but saw a lot of those at the Halloween party.
November 9th, 2011 at 02:28 pm 1320848916
November 12th, 2011 at 07:51 pm 1321127491