It was like climbing Mount Everest, But I HAVE PREVAILED!

Yesterday I had a woman try to convince me that in Arizona the non-fiction is arranged by author. So that was funny. Anyone in AZ wanna refute her? ;)

The real fun on Friday was the 15-year-old boy that comes in just about every Friday and stays until close. His mother drops him off on their way to his sister's gymnastics. As he's said MANY times he 'doesn't read.' I've been trying for months to get this kid to even let me booktalk a few titles. No interest whatsoever. He 'doesn't read' and his computer time is about to start.

But yesterday. Yesterday we were training some new parapros and I had an empty chair next to me and he came and sat down. The parapro had been looking at this year's Caldecott winner, Flotsam by David Wiesner.

Him: What's that?
Me: It's a book. You'll like it. There are no words. (yeah, I SO said that)
Him: Really?
Me: Read it.

He takes it and starts looking at it. He's not focusing, but I just go back to what I was doing and pretend to ignore him.
Suddenly, the coin drops.

Him: Whoa, that's weird!
Me: You have to look closely at everything - they aren't always what they seem...
Him: I think I need to start again from the beginning.
Me: Go for it.

He flips back, paying attention this time.

Him: This is really weird!
Me: Yeah.
Him: I don't see anything special on this page.
Me: The hot-air balloon. It's a puffer fish.
Him: I didn't even see that! Weird! Can I check this out?
Me: (*woot!*) Absolutely.
Him: I don't have my library card.
Me: That's ok. They'll just quiz you about your address and stuff.
Him: I'm going to go check it out.
Me: Ok, bye!

New Parapro: oh. Now I can't finish it.
Me: It'll come back.

Thank you Mr. Wiesner. I'll have a different one of your books laying about next week. Or maybe one of Van Allsburg's weird ones... Maybe we'll eventually work up to books with WORDS. Anyway. It totally made my day.