Why You Should Request a Book at the Library

Where Fleur shares her library love and decides to dance more.

When I was a kid (in the Netherlands), one of my favorite times was going to the library. Our family would ride our bikes, and the best part was that I got to pick any book I wanted. I had an amazing childhood with parents who prioritized books.

Growing up, I learned that when you want to learn something new, you get a book on the subject. Even today, when you can get just about any knowledge from the internet, I prefer books. I like thumbing through the pages, see what I can learn.

Libraries are still a really important part of my life. The library is where I get all my books for research, and (living in a fairly small house), I get most of my books for fun reading, too.

If you follow me on social media, you’ll see me post about requesting books at my library. There are a lot of hidden benefits to doing this, too. You help the author with another sale, but there are widespread ways this can help.

For one, more readers can discover the author’s work. They’ll often go on and buy other books by the author, so there’s a long tail to this one library buy.

Two: libraries often buy the more expensive library binding, and audio or e-editions of the book, as well. So, this one library request can lead to multiple sales, all benefiting the author. (And you. I mean, you get that book you want, at no cost to you. That’s a pretty sweet deal.)

Third: you are supporting your library by using it! At a time when funding to everything is being cut, our libraries need our support. This means using your local library, showing up and sharing that our libraries are important.

If you have kids, take them to the library. You’ll give them memories and priorities that will last them a lifetime. Take my word for it.

I got this shirt from the Mount Pleasant Library, to benefit it.

Hat tip to Austin Kleon for the link.

That’s my plug for National Library Week. We need to take care of our libraries and the amazing librarians in it.

What I’m Writing

I’m slowly trucking along on this YA mystery novel I’ve been writing, book 2 in a series. I was hoping to get this draft finished by the end of May; we’ll have to see if I can still make that happen… It may take a bit longer.

I’m also still working on that non-fiction project, How to Write Your MG & YA Mystery, which is in the formatting process. This is so much more work than I thought! But it’s coming along. More soon.

What I’m Dancing To

With all the bad news here in the USA, I’ve been looking for things that make me happy. Dancing around my house makes me smile, so I decided I should do more of it. This NPR Tiny Desk concert by Ne-Yo was fun; if you like R&B, check it out.

And if you’re not an R&B person, NPR Tiny Desk has a whole backlog of cool concerts by lots of different artists. There’s just something joyful about that tiny desk format.

Good News

Daybreak on Raven Island is getting some new (school library) audio rights, yay for this book reaching more readers!

I was recently interviewed by the great librarian and literacy advocate Mary Lanni; you can watch it here. Mary has her own book news to share soon that I’m so excited about… And she has a Substack you want to subscribe to.

All this good news means more cake, of course. Gotta celebrate your wins. Maybe there can be cake and dancing, why not?

What I’m Watching

I stumbled onto Vigil (on Peacock here in the U.S.) and loved the Scottish mystery with international stakes. More thriller than mystery, but very good, with some of my favorite actors in it.

What I’m Reading

Author friend Gigi Pandian recommended this book, and I was lucky enough to get an early copy of Welcome to Murder Week by Karen Dukess. It’s very good (Gigi knows her stuff, of course) and is keeping me up late… Out in June, make sure you request it at your library and/or order it at your local independent bookstore.

Your Bi-Weekly Cat

This foster fluffy has been recuperating at my house after a leg amputation. It took her about a day to find her sass, and she loves to snuggle. Sweet Pea has been a joy to have around, though she found her forever home yesterday. I’ll miss her but couldn’t be happier.

Godspeed, Ms. Pea.