How to Find LOTS of Potentially-Good Books for FREE

1. Get reccs. I go through literature and teacher communities on livejournal.com. Or I look at what books teachers are requesting on donorschoose.org. And of course, I peer over my students' shoulders.

2. Go to amazon.com and read reviews of listed books. Pare down your list. (No, really. This part is IMPORTANT.)

3. Find out if your library has the books. I'm lucky, in that the library I frequent has an online card catalog. I can also put books on hold from home, so that when I get to the library, they're waiting for me at the circulation desk.

4. If your branch does not have the books, see if you can get them through interlibrary loan.

5. If you're still bookless (or if you just REALLY like the book), request that the library purchase the book. (Then set aside an entire afternoon to spend at Barnes & Noble.)

Today's haul:

Wide Awake - David Levithan
Precious Blood - Jonathan Hayes
Heartsick - Chelsea Cain
The Lazarus Trap - Davis Bunn
Death at Victoria Dock - Kerry Greenwood
The Last Apprentice: Night of the Soul Stealer - Joseph Delaney
Gabriel's Horses - Alison Hart
Things Hoped For and Things Not Seen - Andrew Clements
Runner - Carl Deuker
Warchild - Karin Lowachee
The Plague - Albert Camus
Magic Lessons and Magic's Child - Justine Larbalestier
Upstate - Kalisha Buckhanon
The Second Virginity of Suzy Green - Sara Hantz
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian - Sherman Alexie