So we asked our guest authors to write a post on a number of topics. We gave them options — LOTS of options ranging from serious to silly. Sarah Tregay is sharing her favorite library memory.

My older brother is really smart—like Ph.D. from Harvard smart—and he set a pretty high bar for good grades in my family. I wasn’t that good of a student and had to work hard for grades like his. So I was always looking for a little boost in the report-card department and wasn’t beyond brown-nosing my English teacher.

My high school library was in the hall. So my free period, I’d sit in the carol closest to my English teacher’s classroom with the thickest classic I could find. We didn’t have Goodreads, so I crossed off the titles I’d read on the back of a yellow Cliff’s Notes book.

If it wasn’t for these external motives, I might have missed out on some good reads—including Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein—and a quiet moment in the middle of a busy school day. And, yes, my English teacher stopped by to see what I was reading.