Youth Audiobook Collection Underway!

When Sharon and I talked about our plans for 2010 last fall, we decided that we'd like to spend some money on creating a youth audiobook on CD collection.  However, when budget time came around this spring, it was seen as a fairly low priority compared to other things and we put the project aside.

In mid-April, I came across a note on the back of the library's Telus bill that said something like "Do you know what Telus does for communities?" with a URL.  I visited the site, and found that Telus has grants available for various projects in Canada.  So I filled out the application, ran it by our community grant writer for suggestions, and sent it off in early May.

On June 9th, I received a phone call from a Telus representative who told me that they thought our plan to create a youth audiobook collection was great and that it was the exact sort of project that Telus likes to fund.  When he told me Telus would be giving the library $1000 for this purpose, I had a hard time responding to him and thanking him.  I thought my grant application had been pretty decent, but really didn't expect such a positive response.

A few weeks later, the cheque arrived in the mail, and Sharon and I started to make plans.  We researched audiobooks we thought would be good for the library, and asked children who were participating in Wednesday Club to suggest audiobooks they'd like the library to order.  Unfortunately, the suggestions we've received to this point are not available in audiobook format, but we'd like to encourage everyone to keep trying!

Yesterday, Sharon and I went through the list of audiobooks we had researched and selected a group of them to purchase.  Here's what we ended up ordering:

A.A. Milne's Pooh classics boxed set
Akimbo and the elephants
The Alchemyst
Anne of Green Gables
The Bunicula collection
Charlotte's web
The Chronicles of Narnia
Coraline
French for children
Geronimo Stilton books, 1-6
Green eggs and ham and other servings of Dr. Seuss
Hardy boys #1:  the tower treasure
Hatchet
I miss you, stinky face
James Herriot's treasury for children
The Lightning thief
Magic tree house books, 1-8
Nancy Drew #1:  the secret of the old clock
The Outsiders
Ramona the brave / Ramona Quimby, age 8
Ramona the pest / Ramona forever
The Roald Dahl CD collection
The Spiderwick chronicles, books 1-5
Tunnels

We still have nearly half (about $450) of the Telus grant left for more audiobooks.  Sharon and I have ideas, but we really want to know what our patrons want.

If you can think of youth audiobooks you'd like the library to order, please let us know!

(That being said, there are two sets of books we will not be ordering at this time:  Harry Potter and Twilight.  Both series, while extremely popular, are incredible expensive in audiobook form.)