Missed Opportunity

While browsing the YA section at my local library, I moved out of the way so a couple of teen boys could get to the stacks. Our library is small, and YA only makes up a tiny corner of the whole, so I couldn’t help overhear them when one said, “Man, I don’t even know how to look for books anymore.”

And I wanted to leap in, but on first glance, I didn’t see anything I wanted to recommend. One carried a skateboard, the other carried a hockey stick, so I wanted to say, “Read Mudville! Here! It’s about baseball and magic and it’s totally awesome.” But my little library didn’t have a copy. I looked for The Haunting of Derek Stone, and Octavian Nothing, and The Demon’s Lexicon, and Dull Boy, and Looking for Alaska, no, no, no, no, jeez, quick they’re leaving, Walter Dean Meyer, no no, okay, SOULLESS! Christopher Golden, OKAY!

But by the time I grabbed a book I could recommend to a couple of teen boys carting around sports equipment, they were gone. AND I FEEL BAD. I mean, I tried- I looked for a book I could genuinely recommend, but I mean dang y’all. I listened to a teenager actually speak the words, “I don’t know how to look for books anymore,” and instead of saying, “Check out these awesome authors!” I just floundered.

And unfortunately, this isn’t one of those wit of the staircase moments, where I think of something awesome to say now, and I’m prepared for the next time. I mean, when is that going to happen again? I just feel bad. Bad author. Bad bibliophile. Bad!

*sigh*