Oh no. I am thinking about defacing a library book.

We have a brand new Breyer Stablemates book called Lucky that I checked out of the library a few days ago.  My two year old and I started reading it the other night. I told him the title of the story is Lucky, and when we turned to the first page that showed a picture of the horse Lucky on it, he became excited and said, "THAT YUCKY!!" (he's still learning how to make the L sound) -- it was adorable. We have not finished reading Lucky yet, but I was thoroughly enjoying it and I'm becoming a big fan of the Breyer Stablemates books.  I love horses, always have, and the stories are nice and have lots of great horsey language in them and nice illustrations.  The books we've seen have featured all girl characters but that doesn't matter to the boys right now. 

Lucky

So here's the problem. I was sitting in my son's room browsing the rest of Lucky and admiring the illustrations, and I see the last page of the book is an advertisement for Breyer products. Talk about YUCKY!  I used to work in marketing, but seeing an ad in a children's book is almost revolting.  My first thought was to rip that ad out.  It seems that it could be torn or cut easily without damaging the book's content or cover. (The ad is double sided.)  So, I could wipe out this ad without anyone really knowing (except me, and well, you!)  

But... it's not my book.  I am thinking of getting some Breyer Stablemates books for our own collection and I will definitely cut ads out of them.  The other Breyer book we read, Snowflake, did not contain an ad.  Lucky has one of the library's new stickers on it, so this must be a new thing.  

So.... should I do other library patrons a favor by slicing out this ad?  Or should I be more respectful of the library's public property?  Maybe other patrons actually would benefit from the advertising message? (Look mom! A free catalog!)  How do you feel about advertising in children's books?  It makes me gag, even in this case, where I have a great deal of affection for the brand promoted. Most children's books don't have advertising.  At most, I have seen cross-promotion for other titles (the back covers of our Sandra Boynton books come to mind). I would generally say it is an awful and disgusting thing to damage or mess with library property, but...I don't know!  It might be good to keep the commercials out of kids' books, or at least, this particular copy of Lucky.

Leave your thoughts in the comments, and vote in the poll!  We'll have this title checked out for at least 3 weeks, and I'm interested in your advice whether or not to actually alter the book.  It feels right and wrong at the same time.

I LOVE the library -- but not the fines!

I would love for our family to be big-time library users. But..... I'm having a lot of trouble with overdue books and paying fines. And the fines add up fast! (Enough that I could buy a few books with what I have paid this year so far, and it's only September!)

Our library system has a great online catalog, and I have had helpful librarians renew my books so that I don't have to pay the fines, which has saved me more than once. I can go online to renew also, and just did that, which has erased a fine that was on that book ($1.60 savings -- very worth it). But... a book I returned a week ago had earned an $0.70 fine that I will have to pay, because I didn't think to renew before returning via the book drop.

I love to go with the boys (or by myself) and check out 6-8 (or more) children's books at a time. What happens to me is that we read them and they get scattered into our own books. I think I'm doing better, as I will grab some to return and only keep the ones we really are enjoying a little longer, to the max of the borrow period (and then some!) I think frequent return stops is working for me, but evidently not well enough as I have an $0.70 to pay.

What are your strategies for managing borrowed materials? I need help!

Check your library for Fall story times and reading programs!

Just a note that with school starting, it's time to check out and sign up for your local library's children's programs, which are often wonderful and FREE! I loved going to story time with my oldest. We took a break for a while when my older son was a little too rowdy, but now that he's going to be starting school, I plan to sign up with my 2 year old. I think it's wonderful, especially for stay at home parents, to get out and enjoy some activities that are out of the home. A lot of library programs have sign-ups in advance -- check the Web or call your local library branch to find out what's available. Have fun!