That time of year again

Ah, the joys of summer. The long days hanging out with friends, the vacations and beach trips, the lazy afternoons devoted to Guitar Hero and Wii...

And then, before you know it, the first day of school is looming right around the corner. And to make matters worse... you just realized that you haven't even started your summer reading list for school!!!!

Yup, it's a mad rush to get those popular summer reading titles that hundreds of other students all around the city are rushing to read. Now, we at the library have plenty of these titles by normal standards. But the mad rush for these books takes everything to a whole 'notha level.

Anyway, we don't have enough of each title for every student in the city to read at the same time, so the kids are freaking out. No, that's not true...the kids still don't really care. The PARENTS are freaking out. "I NEED this book for my son" shouts a mother with a bored looking 13 year old by her side. "What do you MEAN you don't have a copy!?" Exclaims a dad who hasn't even bothered to bring his daughter. And my favorite, "I can't believe you are so unprepared for students and their summer reading lists!" says a perfectly coiffed mom with perfectly manicured nails and the perfect summery outfit (complete with spiky heeled sandals and sparkle-y diamond jewelry).

Um, I'm sorry, what? *I'm* unprepared?!?! Say nothing of your child who has waited to the last minute (school starts in exactly one week from tomorrow) to start reading their required titles. Say nothing about the fact that you obviously didn't think it necessary to prompt your child to read said titles until a week before school starts.

Well, whatever. Not my problem. I do what I can, and I am as helpful as I can be.

Obviously, this was a problem last year, too...