Meals for the next week

What is it about fall that make me feel like cooking? Everywhere I turn this week, I seem to find yet another recipe that makes me say "Ooh..."

Thursday: Ham and potato bake
Friday: TBD
Saturday: thai curry
Sunday: Stuffed squash with herbed goat cheese
Monday: longstrider works evening, improvise mac and cheese or leftovers or suchlike
Tuesday: Zucchini, ham, basil and ricotta fritters, only I plan to substitute feta for the ham
Wednesday: ditto Monday

To get:

eggs
broccoli
barley
acorn squash
zucchini
ricotta
bell peppers

Reader participation time!

So imagine you were a librarian at a small library with a children's collection in dire need of revamping. While it has an impressive collection of the classics of children's literature, it is very poor in anything written after 1975. You do, however, have an active Friends group that could probably be persuaded to buy you some new books.

So: if you had, say, $200, what modern children's books can no collection that dares calls itself a children's section be without? As I said, we have pretty much any classic you can think of written before 1975. This includes authors like Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary as well as the obligatory written-by-committee series like the Bobbsey Twins, Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. In terms of modern books, we have Harry Potter, most of a Series of Unfortunate Events, various Goosebumps, Babysitter's Club and Sweet Valley Dreck. And some other random stuff, mostly donated.

Please tell me, what books written in the past twenty years does my library absolutely have to have, that will turn what is currently a bunch of books for short people into a true children's collection?