Turning Adversity into Inspiration: The Revival of Our Living Books Collection!

Embodying Reshelving Alexandria 2.0, our journey unfolds with renewed vigor. In 2021, life took an unexpected turn that shook the very foundation of our passion project. A partnership that once fueled our vision for a thriving searchable database of living books for our vibrant community came to an abrupt and disappointing end. The sudden loss left many of us with shattered hopes and a daunting challenge ahead of.

But out of adversity emerged an opportunity—a chance to rewrite our story on our terms. What initially seemed like an insurmountable setback led us down a path of determination, innovation, and rebirth.

The data we received from the previous database was like a puzzle without a picture—locked, fragmented, and seemingly impossible to restore. However, my husband Erik took it upon himself, with unwavering commitment, to breathe life back into our beloved project. Nights and weekends became devoted to unlocking the puzzle, piece by intricate piece.

As our new website takes form, it signifies more than mere lines of code; it stands as a testament to resilience and the strength of a united vision. Every line typed, every layout meticulously crafted, marks a stride towards a new thing— a collection of rebuilt resources and a renewal of our dedication to serving passionate home library enthusiasts like you!

In the interim, we’re thrilled to share our curated collection of living books with you on LibraryThing—a collection that was initially shaped by the passion of eight women, each with their unique perspectives on the balance between quality and quantity. Though only two of the eight of us now remain in Reshelving Alexandria, the spirit of our original vision persists. The 2021 version of our curated collection of books, complete with over 44,000 unique tags including designated time periods and reading levels, is now available for you to explore- for free! It's an invitation for educators, parents, and learners alike to dive into our literary story vault and find the perfect addition to your shelves or educational journey. 

Our story isn't just about overcoming challenges; it's about turning a painful ending into a new beginning. It's the power of collaboration, resilience, and concerted love for books that keeps us moving forward.

As we usher in this new chapter, we invite you to join us on our journey of renewal. Stay tuned as our yet unveiled website continues to take shape. We also have another thrilling announcement coming next month! In the meantime, explore the treasure trove we've released on LibraryThing. Let's build, learn, and grow together as we continue to champion the lasting value of living books! 

*Caveat: Exploring Our LibraryThing Collection*

As we share this original database, we want to ensure clarity regarding its content and purpose.

While this collection is predominantly rooted in a conservative ethos, we recognize the nuances inherent in books from various time periods and voices. It's vital to approach these books thoughtfully, understanding that their inclusion in the RA Time Capsule collection doesn't automatically signify endorsement or exhaustive vetting for young readers. We respect the intricacies of literary choices and understand that perspectives on enriching reads may differ. It's important to note that certain books within this collection, while offering a historical lens and having value to collectors, may contain material with racist content and portrayals that may perpetuate negative gender dynamics. 

Furthermore, we recognize the absence of "Content Considerations," a tool we consider vital for parents navigating the selection of appropriate books for their children. Content Considerations offer factual insights into themes, content, and potential sensitivities, enabling informed decisions without emotional bias. These objective considerations allow members to determine whether a specific book aligns with their family's preferences. This distinction is important, as it separates objective content details from personal opinions and feelings about the material. 

This collection represents a snapshot in our ongoing journey—a journey that sometimes led to additions for their aesthetic appeal or "the look," rather than after thorough vetting. The books we included catered to two distinct groups: vintage collectors and voracious readers. As we continue to mature and progress, my current team and I uphold our commitment to cultivating an environment where literature is embraced with careful consideration, discernment, and an atmosphere of open dialogue 

For those seeking a more comprehensive recommendation process based on books read and vetted by our current crew, we're excited to share our Reshelving Alexandria Legacy Library literary catalogue available through our own current website. This new resource reflects our commitment to providing guidance and fostering confidence in the books we recommend by ONLY recommending what we’ve read, ensuring a trusted literary experience for your family. Where overlap between the old and new catalogues exists, we are using the tag “ReshelvingAlexandriaLegacyLibrary” on LibraryThing.

We invite you to embark on this exploration of the RA Time Capsule Library with an understanding of the collection's context and purpose. As we continue to cultivate our literary resources, your input, questions, and feedback are always welcomed and valued. 

The Brass Tacks: 

• A clear and helpful guide, walking you through the process of using the RA Library on LibraryThing, can be found here.

• Explore our full yet ever-growing Reshelving Alexandria Legacy Library, with comprehensive Content Considerations, ready for your use. 

• Every one of our literary databases is offered for free, yet their creation wasn't without cost. If you'd like to contribute to sustaining our efforts, you can support us here.

Hidden Gems in Our Resources:

• The Stories from the Ashes Podcast

• Our Instagram account with book reviews and videos

• Tending Shelves- a FB group dedicated to book care and repair

• The Reshelving Alexandria Marketplace- an active FB buy/sell group

• Reshelving Alexandria Academy- a FB group for homeschoolers and afterschoolers

• Reshelving Alexandria Reads- a FB group for our reading challenges and recommendations for members leading book clubs

• Our Reading Challenges and free Daily Reading Tracker- printables

• Our Favorite Small Publishers

• Our Amazon Storefront for great recommendations or just for those looking to support us while shopping.  

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Your Perseverance is Rewarded! Behold, a Glimpse of Things to Come: Our Upcoming Secret Reshelving Alexandria Project Logo! Share Your Guesses of What It’s for in the Comments!

Here is a user friendly “LibraryThing for Dummies” that Cassie made (because I am the “new to me tech dummy”), and I am sharing it with you! If you have any other questions please either drop them in the comments below or ask them in our FB community for the hive mind.

The graphics below are also available in this lovely PDF right here:

Librarythingtips (1)

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Often our research at Reshelving Alexandria into the lives of authors can give us a greater appreciation for, and understanding of, their work. Sometimes, however, there may be something in the life of an author or in their stories that prevents us from recommending an author or book. Great care must be taken, of course, to weigh all available evidence, examine and authenticate primary and secondary sources, consider context, and discern whether the author or story is in violation of universals, or simply failing to live up to our current expectations of conduct or beliefs.

In researching authors to recommend, we came across some very troubling information regarding Horatio Alger, one of the most popular and prolific children's writers of the later half of the nineteenth century, having over one hundred titles to his name. His first and bestselling book, Ragged Dick, remained in continuous publication for over forty years. He is estimated to have sold twenty million copies of his books. His formulaic stories feature a 'strive and succeed' theme: a young ragamuffin living on the streets, in poverty, experimenting with various vices and surrounded by dubious companions; the boy hero inevitably, through his own hard work, a stroke of good luck, and the mentorship and benevolence of a kindly older gentleman, learns to navigate the world of male friendships and overcome the obstacles he is facing to arrive at a life of respectability and success. Alger used part of his large fortune from these sales to support charitable causes for the street boys with whom he surrounded himself—often runaways and foundlings.

While a complete biography is easily obtainable elsewhere, what is relevant to our present consideration is that fact that just prior to the writing of his first book in 1866, while serving as a pastor of the First Unitarian Church in Brewster, Massachusetts, Alger was charged, by a church committee formed to investigate the matter, with "the abominable and revolting crime of unnatural familiarity with boys". Rather than disputing the charges, Alger admitted his 'imprudence' and fled to New York, sending Unitarian officials in Boston a letter of remorse. His father reached out as well, assuring church leadership that his son would not seek a ministerial post in the future.

The matter was not pursued further by the Unitarian church. Alger did not, however, distance himself from his victimized demographic. Instead, he pursued a career that would continue to not only potentially give him access to further victims, but would also ingratiate himself to them.

Given the gravity of the crimes, as well as the fact that these were not spurious accusations or idle gossip but were met with Alger's own admission of 'imprudence,' and the trail of primary sources substantiating the events in question, along with his choice to associate with, write for, and earn a living off of the very children he preyed upon, we have chosen not to include him or his stories in our catalog of recommended authors and books.

Sources

• Horatio's Boys by Edwin Palmer Hoyt: pages 5-6 and page 253

• Horatio Alger, Jr. by Gary Scharnhorst: pages 29-30

Further Reading

Chesley Howard Looney, Doctor of Philosophy, wrote a dissertation in 2005 on author Stephen W. Meader that we recommend reading as there are numerous contrasts to Horatio Alger's writings: Stephen W. Meader: His Contributions to American Children's Literature.

Messner Shelf Of Biographies (1)

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Published by Julian Messner Inc. - 264 Total Books

The editors of Julian Messner, Inc. found that there was a great desire among librarians, parents, teachers, and intelligent readers for really authoritative biographies of characters of interest for this generation. The subject of each title in the Shelf has been carefully chosen to meet this need for modern narrative biographies. All of the books are by well-known authors who have had a special interest in and an enthusiasm for the particular character which has inspired them to recreate his life and meaning. All the books are well illustrated, printed in legible type, well bound, and with colorful jackets. More titles are in preparation and will be added to the Shelf of Biographies in accordance with its exacting standards. Most of these titles have indexes, glossaries, opus lists, chronologies, maps and bibliographies. All have been carefully checked by experts in historical background, etc., in order to insure strict accuracy in fact and implication. (From the dust jacket of Road to Alaska: The Story of the Alaska Military Highway)

This series is officially called "The Julian Messner Shelf of Biographies". However, most of us refer to them as "Messner Biographies" or "Messner Shelf of Biographies".

Many of the titles in this series were reprinted by Kingston House as well as The Junior Literary Guild. Note: We did not include any of the biographies of sports heroes in our list at this time, specifically those written by Milton J. Shapiro and Gene Schoor. This decision was made after doing some research into these titles, and reading this article (the article has since been removed from the site so the link is to the Internet Archive version where you can still read it).

Please print and enjoy this alphabetical order list of the Messner Shelf of Biographies. Happy hunting!

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Feel free to share reviews of individual titles you’ve read in the comments below!

Enter the Literary Catalogue Here

This offering is a searchable database of books our team has read and reviewed as well as the top recommendations from our facebook community. The fb group recommendations come from our long standing members only and have also been researched/skimmed by our team before being included, but not read completely by our team. We only take recommendations of books our trusted community members have personally read, not just books people have “heard are good” or “have the look”. Each book entry clearly states where the recommendation came from including the name of the team member who has read it whenever possible.

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Links to purchasing our recommended books are almost all affiliate links. Using affiliate links help to pay for providing this free resource and are greatly appreciated. You can also shop through the lists we have on our Reshelving Alexandria Amazon Storefront.

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If you prefer not to use affiliate links but would still like to support our work, please use the donate button below!

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Ease of use tip: The search bar at the top of the gallery view/spreadsheet views of the database becomes an advance search by clicking on “Filter”. You can then select criteria per line for each filter you’d like to use- author, genre, tag, time period, location, interest levels, etc. This helps to quickly narrow down the results to hopefully find a book that will serve your needs.

Let us know if you have any questions!

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