Archer's Library Review - Episode 1

For those of you that don't know, here in Portland we have what many believe to be the best county library in the country. The Multnomah County Library has an amazing selection of books, CDs and DVDs which include a huge selection of independent music, movies and even zines. All of these titles are easily accessible by doing a search on the library website and if it's not immediately available at your nearest branch you can put a hold on the item and they will transfer it to the library near you and notify you when it's ready to be picked up or they will mail it to your house for the cost of shipping!

Sarah and I have taken advantage of this resource for years but it wasn't until the arrival of Archer that we checked out another great feature of the MCL, the Title Wave Bookstore.

Title Wave is where all library books go to be saved, after they've had their run in the regular system and they sell them at a deep discount...of the books we've bought so far the most we paid was $2.75 all the way down to $.50. The great thing about buying books from the library is they are usually in really good condition and since they're mainly hard back the library puts a plastic wrapper around the paper book jacket so they look practically new when you remove it.

Just in our 2 trips since Archer's birth we've found 15 really great titles for the little man's growing library...most of which we hadn't heard of before and we'll be sharing with you in this space.

The first of which is called "Sumo Boy" illustrated by Yoshifumi Hasegawa. I choose kid's books just like I'm looking for artist's for the wurst gallery...it's all about the artwork. The story has to be there as well, but if the art sucks it won't be going home. This book has it in spades with some of the most original children's book illustration I've seen. Check out some samples below and stay tuned for next week's review.