Sign O' the Times

Yesterday I dropped off some overdue items at our local library. This is not an uncommon occurrence, though the new email notification system has saved me from the enormous "library donations" I used to make on a quarterly basis. I also dropped off the disc from a book on CD that had somehow failed to jump into the library bag on the previous drop-off day, and had instead hidden in the CD player in the playroom. Bad disc.

While there, I cannot resist cruising for books. My first area of interest is always the New Release Teen area right by the checkout line. Not only because I'm hoping to find something to feed my voracious fourteen year-old reader, but because I'm trying to study the YA genre, and reading the backs of books is good research.

My second favorite area is the books on tape section. Yes, tape. Books on audio file are best, and the library has a growing list of those, but tape beats CD anyday in my book (pun intended). Why? Because you can start and stop and find where you left off without having to skip through chapters or leave it on (wasting electricity). When you are constantly interrupted while listening, this is an important point.

My third stop is at the New Release Kids area, where I often find good stuff for the six year-old. Yesterday I found, to my happy surprise, Uncle Bobby's Wedding, by Sarah S. Brannen, and published by G.P. Putnam's Sons, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group. I mention the publishing details because it turned out to be a book about Chloe the guinea pig worrying that when Uncle Bobby marries his partner Jamie, he won't have time for her. Gay Guinea Pigs getting married!? In a children's book published by a mainstream publishing house? Oh happy day.

It was published in 2008. The titular gay guinea pig Bobby and his spouse Jamie look so cute in their suit jackets and cummerbunds, the wedding cake is white with flowers and two guinea pig figures on top in matching suit jackets just like the grooms. The guests at the wedding dance into the night, happy as guinea pigs in a vegetable garden.

I love it. A sign o' the times.