Pull up a chair and enjoy a close-to-the-end-of-the-school-year staff lounge snack:

Go ahead and finish off those cinnamon ones.

Let’s talk about the books that got a lot of checkouts this year in my K-4 school library that you might not expect.

Love, Aubrey by Suzanne LaFleur

This book just keeps on circulating quietly, as sad books often do. You don’t see it on the hold shelf or kids asking for it by name often, but it is being read all the time.

Rocks and Minerals

Are your students obsessed with rocks, minerals, and gemstones too? Or just at my school? Our 552 section gets a ton of traffic and this book is proof. So this isn’t necessarily a surprise to me, but not a topic that you typically see near the top of the circs pile.

The 50 States: Explore the USA with 50 Fact-Filled Maps! by Gabrielle Balkan, illustrated by Sol Linero

You never know with atlas-y type books. Sometimes they get on the shelf and nothing happens. Not the case with this book, which has a couple things going for it – it’s huge and it’s fun.

Children’s Book of Magic

When’s the last time you added a magic book to your collection? Our section was looking pretty tired, and had the low circs to prove it. I came across this book and it’s been hot this year.

Fancy (Breyers Stablemates series) by Kristin Earhart, illustrated by Elisabeth Alba

Do you have this one in your early reader collection? While books like Fly Guy, Elephant and Piggie, The Princess in Black, and Mercy Watson get all the early reader attention, this book (and series) continues to get checked out a whole lot.

Any surprises at your school library?