_Well, I was hoping to have high circulation figures for December, but I think most of us were a bit distracted with the book fair, parent-teacher conferences, and the upcoming holiday season. Riptides checked out 839 books and placed 54 holds during the month, compared to 767 books checked out during the same period in 2010. I hope 2012 is a record-breaking reading year for us ... let's go Riptide Readers!

_Even though November is a short school month, students checked out quite a few books. The library circulated 1,280 books (about 100 more than the same period last year) and placed 53 holds (about half are for the newest Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, Cabin Fever). Harry Potter was bumped from the Top 3 this month; our highest circulating books were Al Capone Does My Shirts (read by 5th graders), Guinness World Records 2011, and Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes. I'm thrilled that students are really enchanted with -- and clamoring to read about -- Peter Nimble.

Three classes checked out an average of at least four books per student: Ms. Whalley (4.67 books/student), Mrs. Herbert (4.23 books/student), and Ms. Carlin/Mrs. Ibrahim (4.09 books/student). But the three students who checked out the most books in November were fourth graders (with 14, 15, and 16 books checked out each).

October was a busy month in the cataloging and processing department here in the library. With the help of volunteers Mrs. Theodore and Ms. Lepper I was able to process 90 new books this month alone! You can always see what new books are in the library on the New Books page of the library's google website.

I wasn't the only busy one during October -- so were our Riptide readers! The library circulated 2,141 books (up from 1,693 from the same period last year) and placed 96 holds (many were for the 2012 Guinness World Records (031.02 GUI) and for Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes (FIC AUX)). Harry Potter continues to be a popular book: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone clenched the top two spots as the most checked-out books for October (12 times and 11 times, respectively).

I've noticed that, by grade level, third grade seems to check out the most books. They're allowed to check out three books at a time and they're at an age where they read a multitude of book formats (picture books, chapter books (both short and long), graphic novels, joke books, magazines, etc.) that they can finish reading in a week. In contrast, fourth and fifth graders, although they're allowed to check out more books, take longer to finish reading a book because of the book's length (and probably because they don't have as much free time); they're also more likely to concentrate on one book at a time, instead of checking out many books. I think these reasons explain why the top three homerooms in terms of circulation statistics are all third grade classes: Mrs. Tanita (234 books, 9.75 books/student), Ms. Whalley (232 books, 9.28 books/student), and Ms. Whitt-Stopp (176 books, 7.33 books/student).