The other day my little boy (yes, I will leave him unnamed) was either bored in his room during nap time or just wanted to pull a naughty stunt. He decided to tear every last page out of 3 children's books and each one of those pages into a hundred (may just 10) pieces.
They weren't just any books they were LIBRARY BOOKS! So when I take them up to the stereotypical librarian, she shook her head and said, "what a shame! I guess you'll be buying those." I muttered who knows what... She totaled it up and said "that will be $53". I tried to compose myself, but I was in sickened shock. A fellow librarian, who had pity on my expression, told her to take off the processing fee of $9. I said, "wow, I don't know if I can afford to borrow books anymore". I'm sure she was thinking, "you can't afford to have have such a naughty child."
We left the library that day with no books. Eventually I will be brave enough to have library books in my house and then I will guard them with my life!
8 comments:
Oh dear - reminds me of my once little boy. They do grow up and learn. Although, at 19 he still pulls some pretty (good) ones)!
oh jenica!
That has happened to us. I returned some books not knowing that Cam had chewed on the corner. The NEXT time I went to check out books, they scanned my card, said hold on, went to the back and brought out the chewed book. "You will have to pay for this before you can check out any again". I couldn't believe it. One of the older girls piped up, "oh yeah, I remember when Cam did that."
But at least I got to keep the chewed on book!
The pictures in the entry before are adorable! :)
LOL! This story is ALL TO FAMILIAR!! Joel's never done anything to library books, but he is quite good at doing naughty things during "naptime".
We have been down a similar road with Em. i have a one book limit for the younger children and a two book for Emma because I would otherwise go broke:(
I can guarantee you are aren't the first and you won't be the last:)
I just didn't realize how much kids book are full price! I guess it's not practical for libraries to shop around for the best deals.
When I had to purchase a book for MK school that we lost, they told me they had to buy a "library copy" which cost more. I was surprised since it was a small private school.
ella has done that to many a book, she especially loves to tear out the pop-up books. thankfully, they werent library books, but i had already bought them. i am scared to do library books for that reason. i did once and we did something to it, i dont remember, and they were so nice and said not to worry about, it will get a lot worse done to it. so i guess it wasnt too bad!
Books in general are expensive, primarily due to the rising costs of paper in our environmentally-conscious society. Those of you who homeschool know how expensive formal curriculum can be when purchased new. One practical solution for library books might be to keep them in a bin on top of a high bookshelf or even in your own bedroom to reinforce to little ones what a special treat library books are.
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