TTT: I Dream of Book Genie

I had no ideas for the last few weeks' Top Ten Tuesday themes, but I had plenty for this week.  The wonderful bloggers at The Broke and The Bookish asked us to think of ten things we'd ask the Book Genie to give us.

What a fantastic prompt.  I stopped at ten, because that's the name of the meme, but I'm pretty sure I could have come up with another ten without pausing for breath.

10 book wishes

I can’t decide on an order for these, so I’m just presenting you the list as it came to mind.

I'm also importing pins of bookish lusts I have.  Like a bookshelf door to a secret library.  

1. I would like my excellent public library branch to move about ¼-1/2 mile away.  Far enough that I get a little walk in, but close enough to lug books home.  Bonus if they also move the ponds and trails they have out back.   I don’t need a new branch to open—I love the one I use—and I don’t want to move over there.  But I DO miss being able to walk to my library.

See?  Isn't it nice?  So much natural light, natural materials, comfy chairs...and lots and lots of BOOKS.  Plus, we just checked out an ice cream maker.  But I grew up walking to the library, and when my side of town just had a dinky little strip mall library, I could walk there too.  sigh

 2. Monthly author visits to the school where I work.  Marissa Meyer, April Henry, Mo Willems….Last year we hosted Colleen Houck, who volunteered her time, which oddly enough, was EXACTLY within our budget.  It was such a blast.  Then I recently attended a conference in which several local authors were on a panel, and I enjoyed it so much.  I'd love to have that happen for my students regularly.  Plus, I'd love to hear them myself!

I also want this clock, although perhaps with different "number" books.  

 3. Control of my school’s library purchases, and an unlimited budget to work with.  I kind of got this just recently—my principal and our school’s library aid asked for my input on their request to the district for $10,000, and we were successful.  They are starting with the list of books I’d put together, and asked me to keep developing it.  I FEEL SO POWERFUL.  And, you know, like I’m using my power for good.  

And this t-shirt.  I was up until 2 last night, then had to get up at 7 today to go on a field trip with my son.  Argh. I blame A. S. King.

4. Some top notch mystery series set in places other than Great Britain.  I’ve listed my favorites before, but I’d enjoy both some new series  and to see some set in, say Nova Scotia or Portugal.  Branch out a little!  Bring me with you!

Or, let me sit here.

 5. Ooh, ooh, I have a good one!  A device that  converts pages read into calories burned.  Yes? Are you with me on this one?  I used to hike as well as read, but now I don't, and I've gone up three dress sized in nine months.  (Yes, you young ones, it's true that your metabolism slows waaaaaaay the fuck down after a certain age.)  

If I had this book nook, complete with window and kitty, I'd never move, so I'd really need that converter.

6. This one is not original, but I could use an extra day of the week when I can read and nobody will need anything from  me.  (That’s actually more important than the extra day part.  You feel me?)  Or, every other day set up like that.

7.  For my husband and kids to fall in love with reading.  My husband is literate, he just doesn’t…read fiction.  And my kids are struggling readers.  They like to be read to, but reading is a chore for them.  What's that thing about the cobbler's children having holes in their shoes?  For my husband, my reasoning is entirely selfish.  We have other things in common, and I knew going into this that he's not a fiction reader, just like he knew I am not a sports fan.  I just wish I could talk to him about books more.  With my kids, I feel a little more panicky about their lack of reading love.  (And, to be honest, more like it reflects on me.)

It would fantastic to have a framed print of this.

8.  A Magical Paperback Refresher I can spray onto my musty, yellowing, dingy paperbacks to make them more tactilely and visually appealing again.  Some people like old books, but when the pages get all crackly and the spine gives up entirely, I just don't want to pick up my beloved childhood copies of books.  Hardbacks seem to fare better.  

I can never decide which book I'd choose, or even which product (poster or shirt), but I ADORE what this company does.  I guess I could ask the genie for all of it, right?  Not sponsored, just a genuine bit of admiration/coveting.

9.  To have a team of reading teacher greats—Atwell, Miller, Kittle, et. al—come give me on-the-job coaching, in which they manage to make me into an amazing reading teacher--without making me feel like crap first.  

And then let me come home to some sort of fireplace/book area.  

10. To write and publish a book.  Well hell, as long as I'm wishing on a genie, I'll even go so far as to demand that it be a GOOD book.  I know some book bloggers are indeed authors (published or not),  but I’ve never had any ideas.  This is why non-writers ask the obnoxious “Where do you get your ideas?” question.  We feel like we COULD write if we just had an IDEA.  So then I think, okay, creative nonfiction.  Write about…what?  My Peace Corps days?  A teaching memoir?  I just don’t have enough MEAT behind my little anecdotes to make it worthwhile.  An adoption memoir?  Well, if I’m going to write true life, I need to be honest, and there are too many other people involved to be blunt.  All the same, I dream of one day being an author.  For now, blogging is satisfying that urge to write, but if a genie would be my muse, I'd be thrilled.

Of course, if I just got a run-of-the-mill genie, instead of the Book Genie, and I only had three wishes, it would be hard to beat this one a friend of mine shared today: