Weblog Love on Wednesdays (or Thursdays)

I am, alas, a day late and a dollar short with this Weblog Love on Wednesdays post. Again. I know, throw your stones. I deserve it.

I did intend to post this yesterday because I've been sitting on this doosie of a topic since February 11 (last Thursday), so I couldn't let my procrastination get the best of me. A-posting I shall go.

Mandy posed a fantastic question (based on a real-life scenario): If you were given $1,000 and (nearly) carte blanche to create a starter library for someone, what would it include?

Her answer was influenced by the fact that: A) This customer wanted a library aimed at Young Adults; and B) Mandy appears to be Canadian (which I won't hold against her). Some of Mandy's picks made me go, "Ooh, so good." Some made me go, "What?! You've got limited resources and you're spending the buck-a-roos on that?!" Some made me go, "I've never even heard of that... TBR!" Then, further, Mandy asks her readers to comment about what books they would pick, and somebody posted about a supercool YALSA wiki regarding a one-shelf YA library.

I didn't comment on Mandy's original post (although I'll link up this post, post-posting), but I agree that you have to have Chris Crutcher. If I were limited to one of his books, I'd have to pick Stotan!. I'd probably also include some Barry Lyga (perhaps Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl), Something Rotten and Something Wicked by Alan Gratz, and Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian for the male readers. King Dork (Frank Portman) was one on Mandy's list that earned a fist pump from me.

To grab the girl set, I'd also add The Market and some funny reads (Lost It and Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac). I'd give some love to Lauren Myracle and would probably include Let it Snow to cover the Myracle, M. Johnson, J. Green bases. Oh, and I couldn't possibly forget Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. Definite must-have.

But then I'm leaving out a bunch of classics. And Mandy referenced Island of Blue Dolphins (and many other books that I'd catalog as Middle Grade). Do I need MG too? Me oh, my oh, so many choices. I'd pop in the Percy Jackson stuff and I'd try to get as many of the Newberry winners as possible (a couple of titles from Lois Lowry, definitely Bridge to Teribithia, plus A Wrinkle in Time by L'Engle).

So many choices.

The other thing that this post made me think of was the fact that Mandy tried to stick to paperbacks (to get the most bang for her buck), which I think is a smart move. But then I remembered that I read The Maze Runner as a paperback because it was an ARC from the bookstore where I work--the buyer was done with it and usually passes the ARCs on. I wonder if there are more of these resources out there if somebody (the library lady or Mandy or whomever) would contact publishers or authors, explain the project, and get used ARCs of newer books. That opens a whole new door of possibilities.

On another note: 100 Scope Notes now has it's own domain, so fix your favorites.