Trego's Mountain Ear

Taking advantage of the tour offered during the school’s start of the year Community Barbecue, I had the chance to visit the library and hear about the programs and changes taking place.

As students read, they’ll reach new levels, and ultimately the final level of “Flight Commander”. Progress won’t be without material reward, however. Students will earn dollars for books, money they can use to order books of their choosing.

Additionally, some supporting changes are happening in the library proper. The card catalog is out and modern bar code scanners are in! That’s right, Trego’s library is amid a massive digitization progress using the tiny cat program. When finished, each book will be viewable in an online catalog with its cover, summary, publication information, and even reviews! Each book (and movie!) will have its own bar code. The program comes with ridiculously cute little scanners for students to use when checking out their books.

As the library has been systematically organized, each book gone through, the search has been turning up “Antiques”: children’s books so old that they predate the library of congress system. Eventually, some of those treasures will be making their way into a display case.

While nothing I read as a child would qualify as an antique, it did get me thinking about old favorites. Before Nancy Drew, and even before The Magic Treehouse and The Boxcar Children, was If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. What were your favorites when you were young?