Sept. 19 - Douglas Library Sale (Hebron)

Today's second sale was at the Douglas Library in Hebron. I started going to this library's sales in March and was pleasantly surprised--Hebron seems like a little town, but it's a little town with people who read good fiction and apparently REALLY like their children's books!

There's a fairly large parking lot immediately next to the library building (the library is a bit hidden off the street from Route 66 so keep your eyes open). Although the lot was almost full when I got there around 11:30, I found a place to wedge into. Went in with two tote bags--as it turns out, I should have brought more! Although this library has sales every three months, I've found it to be surprisingly consistent in its quality; apparently re-stocking isn't a big problem. I bought more for myself at this sale than I have at the last three, which mostly skewed toward the classroom library (not that I didn't stock up for that here either!).

The trade paperback section was quite good--this sale does have its own Oprah section, but that's OK. Lots of hardcover fiction here, including a pretty broad literary-fiction section (as opposed to the mystery, thriller, romance, etc., which get their own table). Nonfiction is OK--I don't remember seeing much of a biography section, but maybe I just missed that. Lots of cookbooks and health/diet books. CD selection was surprisingly broad, and I didn't fnd myself remembering a lot of its content from previous sales, other than the ubiquitous Backstreet Boys and O-Town. Lots of videotapes; not many DVDs.

The children's section is freaking awesome. This sale usually has more for older kids than average, and they're displayed in a nice spread on the table. (My one quibble is that these books aren't always very recent, although that seems common to children's book sales--my kids, however, seem to prefer stuff that's been written within the last five or ten years to the more "classic" books from my childhood or before, which are often overrepresented.) The little-kid section was amazingly broad--I've been stocking up the classroom library from this sale, but today seemed particularly good (other teachers cleaning out their classroom libraries and rotating the stock, maybe?). Lots of leveled readers, which I always appreciate, and LOTS of good science and nature books. Most seemed to be in pretty tight cover condition, without a lot of library discards or writing inside (a couple covers have some schmutz which I know I can attack with a damp paper towel or Goo Gone--I picked up a couple collections of Jack Prelutsky's poems with this in mind).

I admit to having to sift through quite a bit of cartoon-character lit this time--if you or your kid are into Dora, Franklin the Turtle, Thomas the Tank Engine or Rugrats, this sale might be up your alley. The staff may want to be a little more careful in their sorting process--at least two copies of Goodnight Bush sneaked into the children's section, which might be a little disturbing to unsuspecting parents/kids (yes, I did buy one of these for my husband, and yes, our kids were a little weirded out by say, the representation of Abu Ghraib--aka the "pile of butts").

Everything at this sale was very cheap--they do charge $1 for the adult trade paperbacks rather than 50 cents, but that didn't bother me. All kids' books are a quarter (hardback and paperback) and CDs are only $1. The cashiers are cheerful and count everything up quickly. They were very forthcoming with additional bags (I needed one!) and information about the library sale schedule. I told them I'll be back in November.

Best Finds: Blue is the Colour by the Beautiful South! (I have a hard enough time finding people who know who this band IS, let alone finding their albums secondhand!) Also, Dar Williams' Mortal City (mostly for my husband). In books for me--Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides and Magical Thinking by Augusten Burroughs. Two new Uncle John's Bathroom Readers--these are a big hit with my family, including my generally-reluctant-to-read stepson. For the classroom library, a great little series of DK kids' books, answering questions about food, colors, nature, etc., and another great little series showing the life cycle of a frog, maple tree, ladybug, etc. This was a GOOD day!