Despite the weather, I would say spring has arrived.  The grass is green, the birds are nesting, and flowers are finally blooming.  Every spring, we have our annual EGGstravaganza, where students and their families are invited to decorate eggs to go with a favorite book. The students bring in their projects and we set them out on display and take their photos (which I load into a slideshow).  The submissions are darling, and its truly one of my favorite activities of the year. 

So, I get a lot of books coming in and out every day.  Sometimes I think I would like to know what the books have experienced in their trip away from the library shelves.  Some of them get put in backpacks, never to emerge until the following library day, I'm sure.  That is the saddest scenario of all.
However, some of the books have much more shall we say, interesting adventures.  Yesterday I had a book returned with something sticky evenly distributed all over the mylar jacket.  Maple syrup perhaps?  The child who had the book was mystified.  Had the book perhaps been abducted by aliens?  Was the substance some sort of Extra-Terrestrial Plasma?  Whatever it was, it cleaned up without any damage to the book.  (Thank heavens for mylar covers)
The day before that, a new paperback returned with fresh top soil stuck to the corner.Lots of fresh topsoil.  Now, mind you, there is 6 inches of snow on the ground, and there has been for months.  How did this book encounter the dirt?  It is a mystery.  The child in question placed the blame squarely on her neice, but didn't offer any clues beyond that.  Maybe it wasn't top soil??? I'm not going to think about that!
Finally, this morning a bookbag came back that had been a victim of a cat.  I'm not talking about scratches either... The aroma has permeated the library, so I will have to take the bag to the dumpster directly.  I won't be able to stand having it in the library.  The darling little one who owns the bag explained that her parents had tried to clean it.  I'm sure they did, but I'm not so stingy with my library bags that I can't replace one in this circumstance.  I'm just so glad that the book wasn't in the bag at the time of the incident!  The funniest thing is, the little girl didn't want me to replace the bag-  she loves her cat, up to and including it's scent.  I will have to pull rank (no pun intended) on this, however.  I love animals as much as the next guy, but I cannot continue a relationship with the bookbag in question.