Lost Library Books

School libraries are magical places filled with bookshelves overflowing with unexplored treasures.

My children are seemingly blind to these riches, as evidenced by the fact that they spend their library time searching out books that we already own.

"Look!" said Cortlen in stunned amazement as he retrieved a copy of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs from his backpack. "The library has the same book as us!"

"That's crazy!" I replied.

"I got The Cat in the Hat!" screamed Kellen, holding up an equally unfamiliar text. Not surprisingly, my daughter came home later that afternoon with the library's second copy of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.
"Next time, why don't you guys choose books that we don't already have?" I suggested.

The minute that I offered up this suggestion, I remembered that it was irrelevant. My children never actually read any of the library books that they bring home from school. The purpose of checking out library books (other than to marvel at the existence of duplicate copies) is to ruin my life. This happens when books are left unattended on the kitchen counter long enough for someone to spill something on them, or when they are inadvertently stashed away in secret places until I receive emails like this:

Dear Parent,

The following item is overdue. Please return it as soon as possible to avoid being charged a book replacement fee:

LIBRARY MATERIALS

Due: 10/8/2009
"The great Waldo search"
Call #: F HAN
Barcode: S 6d6236
Price: $14.95

Normally emails like this generate a frantic search through my house. In this case, such an exercise was unnecessary. Just after Thanksgiving, I dropped a bunch of books into the donation bin at my local Salvation Army. Both of our copies of The Great Waldo Search were among them.

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Any similar tales of library mishaps?