You really must, I insist that you absolutely, without question, MUST click onto my Book Bargains page for some great deals! Use my link to BookCloseouts.Com and start looking up the books I have hunted down for you. Some quantities are limited, so hurry. I found some great treasures including P.G. Wodehouse, Brian Jacques’ Redwall series in hardcover, and lots of wonderful picture books and homeschooling resources. Use the coupon code I have provided to save $5 off a $35 order. What are you waiting for?

Check out my bargains page for new suggestions at Comments (0)

Here are the first few chapters of John Taylor Gatto’s The Underground History of American Education. The rest of the book is going to be put online over the next few months, or you can purchase it from this website.

Gatto’s book Dumbing Us Down is a classic expose’ of the government school system. Gatto was once New York state’s Teacher of the Year, despite numerous rebukes and suspensions from his administration for his renegade methods and attitudes. Read his newest book for the detailed story of how children are chewed up and spat out of the great, leveling cogs of the government school machinery.

This book is recommended highly by Cathy Duffy, Samuel Blumenfeld and Michael Farris. Farris said, “It reminds me of the reporter watching the Hindenburg burst into flames who cried, ‘Oh, the humanity!’ Gatto is crying here, ‘Oh, the Children!’ This is the most important education book of my lifetime.”

On Saturday I went to a mega-library sale in Sacramento (here I am at the end of the day.) 160,000 books in one place! I took my son to help with treasure hunting and lifting the heavy boxes I knew we would be taking home. We arrived an hour early to stand in line for the first day preview sale (admission tickets required). We were next to a flight attendant who is a fellow book lover; she has attended this annual sale for the past 17 years. When I saw her later in the day, to give her some books I thought her son would enjoy, she said that being there was “like being in heaven.”

I might disagree with her theological perspective regarding heavenly things, but I certainly agreed with her enthusiasm.

We had no trouble filling the four sturdy plastic bins we brought with us, and we were grateful for the handy dollies provided by the friends of the library to cart our treasures out the door. The bulk of my finds are for our personal library, although I found some wonderful treasures to sell, too. My reward was watching my children, big and small, draped over beds, chairs and across the floor of my bedroom, intently perusing the various gems I discovered.

Overall, my treasure hunting experience this weekend was quite enjoyable. No pushy people, no elbows jabbing, no jockeying for position. Everyone was very polite, at least in the children’s section ( I was warned to avoid the history section until later in the day.) Here’s one of my favorite quotes about the intensity of book hunting from a wonderful novel called The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley:

The shop was comfortably busy, with a number of people browsing. They seemed normal enough from behind, but in their eyes he detected the wild, peering glitter of the blibliomaniac.

I’m sure many of you will appreciate the insight of this quote.

As for some of my finds, they include:
Several Tintin books by Herge
Some Olivia Coolidge titles about ancient civilizations
Lots of Freddy the Pig books in hardback
Several hardback Church Mouse books by Graham Oakley
Take Joy! by Tasha Tudor in mint condition with a dust jacket as well as other books with her illustrations
A privately-owned copy of Patches of Godlight: Father Tim’s Favorite Quotes by Jan Karon
From Sea to Shining Sea by Peter Marshall, Jr., hardcover with dust jacket
Down, Down the Mountain by Ellis Credle in excellent condition
Several Jim Arnosky books including his drawing books
D’Aulaire’s Norse Gods and Giants
Several Danny Dunn books
Several books illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman, one of our favorite illustrators
Several Ruth Heller books
Three of N.C. Wyeth’s Scribner’s classics
and a cute picture book called The Old Woman Who Loved to Read