Dumpster Diving for Education.

I've never stolen books as the protagonist does in The Book Thief, the latest novel that has gripped me for the last few days.

I have, however, gone dumpster diving behind the local library and, oh, the sweet finds I've encountered! I never know when the library is going to weed through its stacks and sprinkle discards into the brown dumpster. Upon opening the lid recently, a few Seventeen magazines from the early Seventies greeted me along with several chunky bound volumes of twenty-five year old Smithsonian magazines. I once found a nearly complete set of the Harvard Classics. On another propitious day I scored a the very first issue of the Guinness Book of Superlatives (World Records), mint and 1956, and a treasure trove of adolescent novels. Once I found a very old dictionary nearly the size of a cinder block.

I mainly look out for books so that I can restock a five tiered bookshelf that sits in my room. It is my wish that the once trashed books will find a place in the homes of my students. They may borrow or take.