My best friend Eva and I have this contest going where we compare our children.  The funny thing about it is that we don't compare their grand successes, or their great accomplishments, but we compare the things they do to prove that we are truly raising nerds.  We have laughed at things like our boys wanting to dig holes in the back yard together . . . or the fact that our kids' favorite movies include Horatio Hornblower . . . or when our littlest ones say things like "I'm considering all my opportunities."  (Our little kids have said some very STRANGE things . . . for little kids, anyway.)  Occasionally we even enter the competition ourselves. 

This week?  I'm the bigger nerd.  I'm still revelling in the high of going to a library used book sale last night.  In fact, I'm rather enjoying the fact that it was a family outing, and the whole family went, and everybody had a great time.  Here's what we brought home (skip to the end if you don't want to read a long list of book titles):

For my upper elementary/juvenile reading shelves

HARDBACKS:

• Crispin: the Cross of Lead
• Catherine, Called Birdy (anybody know anything about these two books?  I kept thinking I had seen them on reading lists somewhere)
• Tuck Everlasting
• Tales of St. Patrick (a collection of stories pieced together from letters and accounts; sounded like a very good biographical sketch)
• Lord Hornblower
• Hornblower and the Hotspur (I was THRILLED to find Horatio books!  Yes, our goofball screen obsession will now carry into our reading!)
• Island of the Blue Dolphin (Hardback!  Beautifully illustrated!!!)
• The High King
• The Giver
• Oliver Twist (library binding edition)
• Where the Red Fern Grows
• King of the Wind (this is a BEAUTIFUL edition, and hardly used)
• The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne (an N.C. Wyeth Illustrated edition. WOW!!!)

Softback:

• Sherlock Holmes/The Hound of Baskerville
• The Red Badge of Courage
• The Island (haven't read this or seen it on any lists, but it's by Gary Paulsen, who I know is a good author)
• The Pearl
• Julie's Wolf Pack
• Old Yeller
• Mr. Popper's Penguins

and books just for fun:

• Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great
• Super Fudge
• Double Fudge (Stephen loves the Fudge books by Judy Blume)
• Paddington's Storybook
• Paddington Helps Out
• Paddington Takes the Test (AJ LOVES Paddington stories)
• Loamhedge
• Martin the Warrior (Redwall books are the only ones we are collecting multiple editions of, because both Stephen and Josh want their own sets.  We found these, and they're library hardback editions!)
• George's Marvelous Medicine (didn't recognize the title, but we really like Ronald Dahl stuff)
• See You Around, Sam! (sounds like a funny story by Lois Lowry, whom I have loved reading!)

Picture Books for my little guy (and the big guys kinda like some of them too):

• German and French picture dictionaries
• Gilgamesh the King
• Paul Revere's Ride (great illustrations!)
• The Amazing Life of Benjamin Franklin
• The Middle Ages (Stephen picked this one out)
• A Nest Full of Eggs (A Step into Science book)
• An Earthworm's Life (thought it'd go great with some Jan Hoffman Backyard Science books)
• The Seminoles
• A Picture Book of Louis Braille (I love the Picture Book biographies!)

Other stuff:

• three science books
• Jan VanCleave's A+ Chemistry
• Math Magic (fun little book for early mathmaticians)
• a two volume set of books called Ancient Civilizations Almanac.  This will more than make up for the fact that I can't ever find decent books to use as reference for civilizations like the Persians, the Assyrians, etc.  I thumbed through these tonight and feel like maybe they are the find of the year!
• 2 American Girl Kaya books (yeah, yeah.  These are for a friend of mine!)
• Family Games (this is great! A 250+ page book giving directions for all kinds of games--board games, card games, indoor games, travel games, outdoor games. It even has a thorough index so you can find solo games, games for two players, and so on.)
• 3 DVD's including two Magic Schoolbus
• 5 Board books (our weekday girl keeps tearing apart our board books!)
• 3 clean joke books

One of my goals was to increase my sampling of art works, so I got Art books including:

• Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain (probably the only book I really got for me)
• The National Gallery of Washington (I was looking for books on art collections so I can show the boys samples of works as we discuss different artists)
• Post-Impressionism (an Eyewitness Book)
• DK Guide to Music
• What Makes a Rembrandt a Rembrandt
• What Makes a Bruegel a Bruegel (These are the BEST books for introducing works and biographical information about single artists)
• 3 Degas books
• a Rembrandt book
• a DaVinci book
• and a book on Mary Cassat

The biggest surprise of the night was a missionary biography I picked up called The Runaway's Revenge.  It is by authors I really like, but it is about none other than John Newton!!! (You know, the author of Amazing Grace) I didn't even notice it when I picked it up, just knew I like the series of biographies)

Josh got:

• The Ultimate Guide to the X-Men (a little damaged, but he thought it was still worth a buck)
• 2 Artemis Fowl books
• 5 Jedi Apprentice (Star Wars)books
• a Star Wars novel

Stephen got:

• 4 Jedi Apprentice books
• The Ultimate Guide to the Hulk (These DK Ultimate Guides are the best, and one of the few books on comic heroes that I more or less trust)
• a football book on records or something like that

AJ got:

• 2 baseball books including a huge one on baseball history
• 3 picture books including his own Redwall book

I was tempted to go back and figure out what the cost of all these books would have been retail, and then again what I might have paid to get them in the same condition used from say, Amazon, but I'm way too tired to do that.  Suffice to say that I got 90 items for under $100.  Some of these I consider collectors books (but after doing just a little online research, they don't sell for much), and many are hardbacks in excellent condition. I was surprised that the most valuable find was the Ancient Civilizations Almanac, which retails for over $100, and fetches a minimal $50 used.  All of the books are easily worth the 50 cents to a dollar that I paid for them.  I always love it when I feel like I've gotten a really good deal. 

I am also pleased because I didn't get home with anything I regretted getting.  I didn't succumb to the "maybe I can sell it online" syndrome.  Unlike the first book sale I went to, where I could have easily just picked up a box and gone home with whatever was in it, this time I had a list of books I wanted for Josh, I had been through my library and knew what I didn't have much of and what I actually had, and I took time to sort through what I had chosen near the end of the evening and actually put back things I didn't want or wasn't sure about.

Now that I've proved I'm a nerd, let's talk about you.  If you skipped to the end and just read the paragraphs, but none of my book list, you're safe.  You are definitely not a nerd.  If you skimmed my list, you're pretty safe too, but you might be a wanna-be nerd.  If you read through my entire list of books, including my comments, give yourself 5 points.  You have nerdy inclinations, and are probably on the way to becoming one.  If you recognized many of the books on my list, give yourself 15 more points.  If you had heard of every book on my list, give yourself 50 points.  If you actually knew the authors I mentioned give yourself 20 points. If you knew most of the authors of these books, whether I mentioned them or not, well, you don't need anymore points.  You win the biggest nerd award.  And if you're heading to your bookshelf when you get done reading this, because you just remembered you had one of these books and you want to look it over . . . just check yourself into rehab.  You need nerdy book-lover therapy! 

As for my friend Eva, don't worry about her losing our competition this week.  She's proving she's a nerd right now 'cause I know she's fighting back just a little envy that I went to the book sale and brought home books, and she wasn't able to go.  Don't worry friend!  There's always next year!

As for me . . . I'm looking for a good book to read.  Or maybe I need to go work on building some more shelves.