Library!

The library at my school is amazing. It is amazing amazing, in that there are shelves of books, tables, electric lights, and a librarian who sits at a desk; but it is also amusing amazing in its selection of books and their place on the shelves. Macbeth, The Scarlet Letter, The Adventures of Robin Hood, and Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret are mixed in with the dozens of paperback romance novels. Beneath a row of psychology, sociology, and anthropology textbooks ( amongst which I found a fascinating collection of articles about cannibalism, voodoo, and the sleeping patterns of Dutch babies) is a collection of Ogden Nash poems illustrated by Quentin Blake and assorted Roald Dahl novels. The book selection also includes a Pippi Longstocking book, several Goosebumps books, a cookbook of West African recipes, World Bank papers about the Grameen Bank, multiple copies of Antony and Cleopatra, and a Spanish textbook.


Most of the books were donated by schools in England or America, but I did come across a couple of German books. I, unfortunately, cannot read (or speak) German, and I only knew the books were in German because all the nouns were capitalized. Perhaps there is another language that capitalizes its nouns. Perhaps that is the language those books were written in.

And you know that Pink Floyd song about school and teachers and in the music video the kids get turned into sausages? I found the book that must have inspired that song; it is a mathematics book from England and in the back there are several activities for students to try. “Activity 2: Find the number of bricks in a wall.” I’m serious. And that’s the entire activity, brick-counting.

I like to wander the library in my free periods, inhaling dust and watching the lizards disappear into hidden cracks. Once in awhile I’ll find a book to take back and read, usually a textbook (although I’m a little afraid of becoming like Frankenstein, who, if I remember correctly, taught himself science from outdated books and messed a lot of stuff up) and I now know lots of interesting conversational tidbits should the conversation ever turn to cannibalism, voodoo, Dutch babies, chimpanzees, smallpox, or vocal cords. I wish more conversations would.