The good old book fair

I still remember the excitement that would come over me when I saw the teacher handing out the catalogs for books that we could order through the school. There were plenty of choices to mull over before having to return the order form to the teacher. I was intrigued by My Teacher Is An Alien and stories of space travel. Books about famous figures from American history like Abraham Lincoln or George Washington were always honorable mentions. However, the books that always got picked were the joke books. Not all of the jokes were that great, such as "I can jump higher than the Empire State Building. The Empire State Building can't jump", but I couldn't put the books down. So I would order my joke book when they were included in the catalog (and I was always disappointed when they weren't). I don't remember how long it would take for the books to take to get to the school. Either way, it was long enough that I would usually forget that I had pages of hilarity on their way to me (does that happen to anyone ordering packages nowadays?). The thrill of finally receiving my bundle of joy was nothing compared to the book fair. The book fair was where you could see the books, feel the books, smell the books, even taste the books... ok, maybe not the last one. It was always fun to see a joke book about monsters or animals that I didn't have in my own personal library. The trick was to find a way to get my mom to pay for my newest heart's desire. Those books have been passed on to my own son now. And besides, with the new smart phones I have access to the dumbest jokes on the internet 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, sans anticipation. Every once in awhile though, I'll grab a joke book and take it into my office where I do my best reading, well you know, just for shits and giggles.