I’ve been teasing my daughter all week that we were going to get up at four in the morning, grab some sleeping bags, a thermos of coffee and camp out at the State Fair Grounds so we could be the first in line for the library book sale.  She just rolled her eyes at me, but diligently set to work raking the lawn, weeding the drive and doing any other odd job she could think of to earn money for the sale.

As it turned out, we got there 18 minutes after the doors opened and the parking lot was already full.  By the number of school-aged children milling about, I knew we weren’t the only homeschoolers who celebrate this yearly event with a school holiday.

Bear was most pleased with the fruits of his labor, turning simple garden chores into this:

As well as a field guide to reptiles and amphibians of North America and a Garfield book.

I, too, was quite pleased with my discovered treasures which included three books for me.  All me.  See, normally this sale is all about homeschooling.  I fill our shelves with field guides, well-illustrated books on nature, history and the arts.  I pick up classics now and again because you can’t write in library books and I intend to mark these books heavily when we get to studying them.

But this time, I got three books for me.  They may end up in a homeschool lesson eventually.  After all home education is all about not setting up dividing lines between what is school and what is life, but I got these books just because I wanted to read them.

Two are for a project swirling in my mind.  See, I’ve decided to write a book.  I have no idea how far I’ll get on this project, but there you have it.

The third I have wanted ever since the author kept me company on a long, late night drive through Kansas.  I even sat in my parents’ drive to listen to the end of his talk before turning off the radio.  I hope the book is at least half as good as his talk.

I’ll let you know what I think of it when I’m through.  But first I have to finish my library book. Before the fines make my borrowed book more expensive than the purchased one.