13 Reasons Why

In January of 2000 I signed my first teaching contract. Twenty-one kindergarteners would be my captive audience for 45 minutes a day and I was confident that classroom management would not be a problem since I had the toys. I was, after all, the new science teacher at MSAD 11. Now, if you don’t recall first grade science, let me remind you that racing marbles down ramps of varying heights and launching whirligigs off of stairwells were just two awesome activities. Sadly, though, I must confess that I did, indeed, have some behavioral hiccups. My mantra began and went something like this:

“Please clean up after yourself.”

“I know your tooth is loose, but you have to push in your chair before you go to the nurse.”

“Please check the floor before you leave.”  

I ended up dedicating twelve years to those munchkins and when I finally transitioned to the upper grades, it wasn’t because of the curriculum; I became weary of hearing my own reminders.Now I work in a library a few nights a week at The Governor’s Academy and I am stunned at the number of times that the ole mantra comes out of my mouth. Well, most of it. So, this former elementary school teacher is asking you to please remember these 13 Reasons Why No Adult in Pesky Should Ever Have to Pick Up Your Gum Wrapper.

13. It’s sloppy.

12. It’s lazy.

11. It’s thoughtless.

10. It’s disrespectful.

9. It’s irresponsible.

8. It’s immature.

7. It reflects poorly on you.

6. It reflects poorly on your friends.

5. It reflects poorly on your community.

4. Your handbook prohibits it.

3. Your teachers expect more.

2. Your adults raised you better.

            1. And in the words of Robert Fulghum, author of Everything I Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, you should always, “CLEAN UP YOUR OWN MESS.”

TC

Cupid Rhymes with Stupid...un-Valentine's Day Books

I am not a celebratory person. This personality trait covers many aspects of life including birthdays, events, and holidays, but it really rises to the surface when faced with commercially overblown fake holidays. Valentine’s Day--I’m talking to you. Why, oh why, has a single date on the calendar come to signify love and all sundry of pink things? Every year wherever I’m working I battle for an un-Valentine book display as opposed to the ubiquitous “Love Story” array, and most years I win. Let’s face it--people happy in love don’t need to read about other people happy in love, but a great, kick-you-in-the-face, love stinks book can do wonders for the heartsick psyche. Or anyone, really.

A number of different plotlines fall into the love stinks genre: death of one (or both) characters, fate or life circumstances keep lovers apart, it’s-not-you-it’s-me break up, falling out of love, etc. Here are a few books from our display that meet these different love stinks scenarios.

Death: The demise of a romantic partner can be as classic as Romeo and Juliet, taken with a modern twist like The Fault in Our Stars (John Green) and Me Before You (JoJo Moyes), or encompass diverse relationships like A Little Life (Hanya Yanagihara). Any way you slice it these books are sad--bring tissues.

They’re Better Off Apart: Some characters just don’t belong together--for me Rhett and Scarlett (Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell)  fall clearly into this category. Is she going to “get him back” as she claims near the end? I for one hope not. Everyone in This is How You Lose Her (Junot Diaz) is better off without the main character, Yunior, in this collection of connected short stories. It’s possible that he has finally learned something in the end...but you never know.

Life Circumstances Keep Them Apart: Circumstances can’t get much more uncontrollable than The Time Traveler’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger). Clare and Henry attempt a traditional marriage even though he tends to arbitrarily jump around to different times. Yeah, that will complicate things.  Family pulls a late in life couple apart in Our Souls at Night (Kent Haruf), and a more perfectly tidy, heartbreaking 180 pages may not exist in literature. Read it in one sitting--you won’t regret it.

So many not-perfect endings, so little time.

PK

Abandoned at the Library

How Many Kisses?

Once again we celebrate Valentine's Day with a "Guess the Kisses" contest. Running through February 14, you may come to the library and submit a different number each day. Aspiring winners employ different methods to come up with their answers. Some use rulers and calculators, others guess randomly (or wildly.) Do not ask us for hints! To be fair, we do not count until the contest closes.

SMC