Five minutes before closing yesterday, a young man (4th grade) came up to me and asked, “Do you have any recommendations for me for realistic fiction that’s not depressing?  I really liked the last book you recommended to me, The Golly-Whopper Games [by Jody Feldman].”

I pulled the first Phineas MacGuire book for him, Phineas L. MacGuire Erupts!: The First Experiment by Frances O’Roark Dowell, told him that another boy his age had loved it, and sent him on his way.

And then this afternoon he came bouncing up to my desk, “You know that book you got for me?  I’m almost done with it – can you get me the next book in the series?”  And luckily we had the next two books on the shelf, and I sent him home with both.

Less than 24 hours, with a school day in the middle of those 24 hours, and he’s already almost finished the book and is ready for more.  That’s incredibly satisfying to me, the children’s librarian: I managed to put the right book in this child’s hand at the right time.  Really, truly, there’s no better feeling.