Parking on Cozumel Island

It’s with delight that I bring Bailey the Library beta fish back to his position on my desk and settle into my middle school Library for the next 10 months. Okay, maybe not delight, but honest excitement and happiness, for sure.

I had a great summer. For three weeks, some friends and I visited Playa del Carmen, Mexico (I highly recommend The Luna Blue Hotel) and had a fantastic time jumping into cenotes, riding around on ATVs, snorkeling, and just plain hanging out on the beach (under an umbrella, of course). No doubt, it was hot. But the people were lovely. For two weeks, we studied Spanish and met a host of people from around the world. We’re friends forever thanks to quite a few very good meals shared and the wonders of Facebook.

Being a school librarian has got to be the best job on earth. Okay, perhaps Anthony Bourdain and Samantha Brown have THE best jobs on earth, but I like being able to go home every night. So I guess I get to take the prize.

And naturally, loving my profession, I adore books written for the teen age. But during this summer, I morphed into another kind of reader. As the summer began, my house started its ritual summertime submersion in children’s and teen books. However, in a gleeful bout of rebellion (that was really a rebellion against my own rules), I packed all adult books for my trip to Mexico. As I strolled through Barnes and Noble at Kenmore Square searching for The Private Diary of Mr. Darcy by Maya Slater, I happened upon Rosewater and Soda Bread by Marsha Mehran and I knew I had found another delightfully indulgent compliment to the treat that already awaited me in the Austen spin-off.

True to expectations, the adult novels I purchased proved to be just as I desired: delicious, entertaining, and perfect beach-reads. I felt rather guilty for not packing numerous teen reads with me on the plane, but I realized that taking a break from reading teen fiction allowed me to recharge my batteries and give me a chance to treat my soul and my imagination.

And now I’m back at the most wonderful part of my job: reading Ann Rinaldi’s Come Juneteenth and looking forward to reading others that await both at home and at school. How great is that?

Now, if only I could walk two blocks and park myself on a Mexican beach to kick back with one of these novels…