A Book To Hunger For

By Nancy K. Crevier

“What’s startling this year,” said Newtown Friends of the Library publicist Toni Earnshaw about the upcoming book sale, “is the unusual range of offerings, from the 1800s to contemporary. We have a number of books signed by notable authors and illustrators, too.”

Steven Kellogg, Tomie dePaola, Rudyard Kipling, Molly and Norman Rockwell, Rosemary Wells, and Eric Sloane are some of the more familiar names that embellish the front pages of books to be found in the Special Collections, Room 201, at Reed Intermediate School on Trades Lane during the 37th Annual Friends of the C.H. Booth Library Book Sale, July 14 to 18.

But the inscription by one particular contemporary author is sure to raise a great deal of interest, said Ms Earnshaw.

The Friends of the C.H. Booth Library are extremely grateful to author Suzanne Collins for her inscription added to a first edition copy of The Hunger Games, donated to the library for the sale.

“As far as we know,” said Ms Earnshaw, “there is no other copy of The Hunger Games inscribed and signed by Suzanne Collins. Outside of some signed at the publishers, she rarely ever signs her books. There is no doubt that this offering will make the perfect gift for one of her fans.”

The generic inscription “May the odds be EVER in your favor!” is the catch phrase of Ms Collins’s best-selling Hunger Games trilogy, and is familiar to anyone who has read the books or seen the 2012 movie.

The official description of The Hunger Games, as listed by the Friends of the C.H. Booth Library, reads “NY: Scholastic, nd(2008). Stated First Edition, October 2008; date sequence begins with 08, printing sequence begins with 1.” The book is considered “Mint with mint jacket.”

“[Ms Collins] has done us a tremendous favor,” said Ms Earnshaw.

This unique offer is priced at $2,500.

Bibliophiles will want to rise and shine on opening day of the book sale. Numbered admission tickets on Saturday, July 14, go on sale at 7 am, for $5, with entry at 9 am. Last year’s premier offering, an 1800s whaling journal, sold within the first minute of the sale.

As Ms Earnshaw noted, “May the odds be ever in your favor…”

For more information on book sale highlights, visit www.boothbooksale.org.