My friend in Utah who saves time (and her sanity) by checking out books online and then picking them up in a quick stop at the library has another great idea for making the most of your public library. When her kids bring home the book order forms from school, she has them circle the books they are interested in, and leave the lists by the computer. When she is online looking for library books to check out, she looks for those books, or books by the same author. What a great way to stay current on what books and authors are "in" for kids, without having to spend all the money.
My mother-in-law, who was a huge proponent of these sales (so much so that one time when one of my kdis did not send in a book order, their teacher called her -- not me -- to see what was wrong), would not be wild about this idea, but I think it's awesome! In defense of my wonderful MIL, who I love dearly, I will say this: she has always preferred buying books rather than checking them out from the library, because, as she says, "the library gets really mad when I underline them in red & blue pencil and want to keep them." She has always supported my kids' education and encouraged reading by buying the book club books they were interested in. However, it did get out of hand. I told her at one point that she either had to stop buying the boys books, or start buying bookcases. She told me to go to IKEA and to send her the bill!
