I Scream, You Scream . . .

The ice cream truck didn't come through our 1980s Provo neighborhood often. We didn't live in the most kid-infested part of town. And when it did come jingling along 300 West, Mom's answer - with five kids and a tight budget - was always "Have a popsicle from the freezer." If this had come to a stop on our corner, I bet her answer would have been different!


Painted up like the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine and outfitted with the loudest sing-song chimes you've ever heard, this truck is roaming Charlotte's streets all summer handing out FREE BOOKS. Honest-to-goodness, brand-spanking-new paperbacks on the hottest topics of the day. Hannah Montana, High School Musical, vampires, pirates, mysteries, romances, picturebooks for non-readers. Something for everyone. Even some used books from the public library's adult collection for the parents who feel left out.

I'm a colossal bookworm and never had much use for playmates when there were pages to turn. I read through the entire Nancy Drew collection at my elementary school library three times and developed a secret system for marking my favorites. I would pore over the booklet they'd send home in advance of the yearly Book Fair when the lucky, rich kids could buy books on-the-cheap to start their very own collections.

Books in our house never came new from the fair. They came from the racks of nickel and dime bargains at the thrift store once they'd served a tour in the library. They usually still had the check out cards and pockets glued inside their covers. Playing library was one of my favorite games.

This truck - sponsored by the Charlotte Public Library - visits the same neighborhoods several times a week and kids can get a new book every time. They go mostly to the projects where kids usually don't get to spend much time in the library. By the end of summer, they'll have a shelffull - their very own library. Beats ice cream any day.