So, we're at the end of another Summer Reading Program Season (there are still activities going on - check them out at your favorite department in the library). This time of year always seems like a bit of a let down, the children's department isn't quite as full as usual, the circulation [1] desk staff get a bit of a respite, and the books in the young adult department display for required summer reading is looking a mite empty as the beginning of the school year looms and kids realize that they've only got a little more than 2 weeks to get those books read! Yikes.
As a kid, I remember summer lasting FOREVER!!! From Memorial Day when all the pools opened (albeit with a water temperature just slightly higher than that of the Arctic Ocean) to the end of August when the corn stalks were just beginning to brown seemed to take more than the allotted 3 months. Now, I feel like I just went through my children's back packs after the last day of school in June and stored away those few school supplies that we can use again while tossing nubs of unidentifiable crayons, countless hall passes, and various other clumps of oddness that were lurking in the depths of said back packs. There is still a rather funky smell in my son's back pack. Guess he'll be getting a new one this year.read more [2]