School library book returned 73 years overdue

January 18, 2010

Last year I had someone bring back a couple of library books she’d found when moving house. They were books she had borrowed for a high school project and she is now in her mid twenties.

This guy leaves her for dead:

Thomas McArdle did a naughty thing 74 years ago. As a sixth grader at Chestnut Street Elementary School in Scottdale, PA, he checked out Laura Orvieto’s The Birth of Rome to complete a class assignment—and he never gave it back.

via School Library Book Returned 73 Years Overdue – 1/7/2010 – School Library Journal.

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

Hiro Sasaki January 18, 2010 at 6:25 pm

Wow. Great link. At least he finally gave it back… Gus Hasford, author of _The Short-Timers_ (which Kubrick adapted into _Full Metal Jacket_), apparently had a bit more severe library problem than accidentally forgetting to return an overdue book:
http://www.gustavhasford.com/killing.htm

bookboy January 18, 2010 at 7:07 pm

You’re right. He seemed to have some serious library issues.

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