My body sure doesn't like this 6 a.m. stuff! Two days in a row no less. Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day and today is so gloomy I can't even see Buck Island. Oh well, maybe that means it won't be so hot in the library today. We do have 4 floor fans to help the ceiling fans but I leave at the end of the day drenched in sweat. Kids started yesterday so I hope some of the "missing" books have turned up during the summer.

Been trying to read some "guy" books lately and really liked Kevin Waltman's Learning the Game. My knowledge of basketball is limited to watching three older brothers play when I was a kid, but even with that limited knowledge I enjoyed the court scenes. The setting is small town Indiana where Nate is learning about life both on and off the court. During the summer the team plays on one of the frat house's courts as they are gone for the summer. It is during one of these court sessions that Branson, the bad boy of the team, decides to break into the frat house. He knows the back door is less than secure and a few jerks on it and it is open. Before long Branson has them convinced to steal the electronics and other goodies in the house. Jackson is the only player with enough smarts to walk away from the scene. Nate knows he should but goes along with the gang when Saveen does. School starts and the pressure is on as the team is suspected of the robbery and Nate's older brother Marvin saw it go down. Marvin moved out after he couldn't deal with accidentally shooting a friend and now he is actually giving Nate the advice he needs. Nate needs to take responsibility for his own actions, but will he? His girlfriend Lorrie is adamant he keep his mouth shut. An excellent book about taking responsibility for your own actions and trusting your own instincts. Great addition to HS collections.

Staying in the sports mode, but moving to baseball, I read a really neat children's book - The Legend of the Curse of the Bambino by Dan Shaughnessy, illustrated by C.F. Payne. It is the illustrations I love about this book - Babe Ruth bigger than life with a big old grin on his face as he watches the Red Sox both loss, for many years after they sold him to the Yankees, and then finally win the World Series. Integrated into the beautiful illustrations are actual excerpts from newspaper articles about the plays that lost the game for the Sox. Did the Bambino have anything to do with it? The delightful illustrations suggest that he might have - blowing the ball out of the stadium, letting a ball bounce off his shoe so the first base man misses it. A wonderful bit of baseball legend to share with grades 2-6. Anyone, of any age, who loves baseball will enjoy this one.