Yay for Free Books!!!

Posted February 26, 2016 by Katie Caskey

I will be the first one to admit that grad school is tough! There are papers to write, internships to complete, and that’s to say nothing of the one or two (or three) part-time jobs one has to work just to afford food and heat! But, you all know that already, so I’m not going to scare you/bore you with the woes of grad school. Instead, I want to take this time to highlight my absolute FAVORITE perk I’ve encountered in my time as a children’s lit. grad student at Simmons…FREE BOOKS!!!!!!

Every year the children’s literature department holds their free book giveaway for all the students in the program. Many of the professors in the program are also book reviewers, so our department is sent many review and advance copies of newly-published or about-to-be-published books. As the year goes on the collection grows, filling the shelves in the book nook until there just isn’t room for anymore. It is then we all receive the much-anticipated invitation to come live out a book-lover’s dream.

Each student is allowed to select five books from the shelves. The selection is vast, with a huge collection of picture books and young adult fiction, as well as some non-fiction, some board books (good for baby shower gifts), and a plethora of enticing ARCs (advance review copies) that aren’t on the market yet! As you can imagine, this huge selection creates a very real problem for students trying to narrow down their choices. When I went to pick out my books there was another student there as well, and he had a stack of options bigger than his head that he was attempting to whittle down.

I love browsing through the shelves of books, trying to find the book that is the perfect balance of “That looks really good!” and “I may not buy this for myself, but I still want to read it!” I was most excited to find two sequels that I didn’t even know existed for books that I loved to read growing up. I also scored some adorable picture books for a friend who is pregnant with her first baby. I know she’ll be getting a lot of the classics for her baby shower, so I wanted to be able to add a few new publications into the mix.

I love our program here at Simmons, and I love how they continue to foster the love of books that we all undoubtedly have (or we wouldn’t be in this program). If you’re on the look-out for some new free books and you missed out on this year’s giveaway, swing by the Horn Book offices on the third floor of the Palace Road building and check out the wheeled cart that is always sitting in the hallway. It’s clearly marked, and any and all books you find on it are free for the taking!

So, from this book-loving poor grad student to you all, happy browsing!