I'm fortunate to live within a few minutes of a Deseret Industries Thrift Store that usually boasts a stellar book selection. In fact, the majority of the books in my classroom library and personal shelves at home have come from sporadic browsing trips to this store since the books are reasonably priced from $1 to $3 dollars. It's one place I don't mind shopping with my wife since she gets to browse through baby clothes while I get to thumb through the books, looking for titles that will interest me and my students.
I'm not sure the source of the books I've picked up at this store, but someone in the American Fork area has exquisite taste in YA literature and other current titles on my to-read list. (Or, someone has terrible taste since these books keep getting donated to the store--often brand new and barely touched. Either way, I profit, so bless 'em.) I've fantasized about just camping out in front of the drop-off donations center to the thrift store with a cardboard sign that reads "Donating books today? Let's cut out the middle man and just load them into the back of my car." The thrift store employees will likely shoo me away, but it's plausible if I set up on the street, right? Maybe I'll experiment during the summer break with my book begging.
Here were a few titles I recently picked up:
I'm not sure the source of the books I've picked up at this store, but someone in the American Fork area has exquisite taste in YA literature and other current titles on my to-read list. (Or, someone has terrible taste since these books keep getting donated to the store--often brand new and barely touched. Either way, I profit, so bless 'em.) I've fantasized about just camping out in front of the drop-off donations center to the thrift store with a cardboard sign that reads "Donating books today? Let's cut out the middle man and just load them into the back of my car." The thrift store employees will likely shoo me away, but it's plausible if I set up on the street, right? Maybe I'll experiment during the summer break with my book begging.
Here were a few titles I recently picked up:
- Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. I'd seen this referenced in so many education and psychology books, so I was stoked to find a copy for $1. Since I've been tinkering with Genius Hour and more autonomous activities with my classes, I'm excited to see what I can apply from this with my students.
- Sailing Around the Room: New and Selected Poems by Billy Collins. One can never have too many hardcover copies of poems by Billy Collins.
- A Different Angle: Fly Fishing Stories by Women by Holly Morris. I have a student whose life completely revolves around fishing, so I was glad to find this since he can only read A River Runs Through It so many times. Perhaps since the women authors will give him a new perspective.
- Holler If You Hear Me: The Education of a Teacher and His Students by Gregory Michie. I'd read an excerpt of this memoir a couple of years ago and liked the way this inner city teacher revealed what life was like in his classroom. (I'm a sucker for education-related books.)
- The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. I was so enamored with Never Let Me Go, so I'm pretty excited to enjoy another Ishiguro novel.
- The First Part Last by Angela Johnson. I read this book in a YA literature book in college and was struck by how simply and profoundly the author told this story of a teen thrust into the world of adult responsibility. Definitely worth every penny.
- Merriam-Webster's Vocabulary Builder. I've struggled to find a great, comprehensive way to integrate vocabulary into my students' reading, but after a few minutes flipping through this, I've come up with some great ideas.
- Brain Games Kids: Preschool. This seems to be right up my daughter's alley since she's in that exciting stage of recognizing letters and numbers. This should be a fun little daily activity with her.