AbeBooks' recently ran a contest to win a Flip MinoHD camcorder. The challenge? We asked students to write a poem for us, the more creative the better, about textbooks. The winning poem had to include the phrase cheap textbooks. The contest closed on September 10th, and was a smash success! We received hundreds and hundreds of excellent, funny, creative entries, narrowed it down, and finally selected our winner - congratulations aplenty to Amanda from Normandale Community College in Bloomington, MN. Her entry about Little Jack Horner's desperate search for affordable textbooks made us laugh, had great scanscion, and best of all an uplifting ending. Amanda assures us she is very excited to start her amateur film-making career as soon as she receives her prize.

There were so many excellent entries that we wanted to share some of our favorites here. Congratulations to Amanda, and many thanks to everyone who took the time to enter! You may see your entry sprinkled about the web site in the coming months.

 

Best Cheap Textbook Poems




Winner!


Amanda
Normandale Community College
Bloomington, MN



Little Jack Horner sat in the corner,
weeping in discontent.
He just got the mail, which turned him quite pale;
his new book list had been sent.

His eyes filled with mist as he read this huge list.
Five books for one course alone!
Jack dropped to his knees and began to plead,
"Could someone PLEASE throw me a bone?!"

Just then came a knock, and on the front walk
stood a fairy barely two feet tall.
She looked rather hip, with a smile on her lip
in a dress you would see at a ball.

"My name is Sneezy, and it would sure please me
to help find whatever you need."
"It's cheap textbooks I seek, but my future looks bleak!"
Jack thought that he should concede.

"Easy-peasy!" said Sneezy, and with an air almost breezy,
she took out her magic wand.
Then appeared, with a "POP!" a tiny laptop,
with a website already logged on.

"AbeBooks.com," Jack said as he scratched his head,
looking hopefully at the screen.
"Here you will find any book of any kind,
at the lowest price you've ever seen!"









Graham
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO

 

"Here’s your syllabus for Stats,
       For Physics,
         For Cal,
         For Bio..
Have your first reading done,
         Day after tomorrow!”
 
The profs’ words flew through my mind…
         Metacognitvely, I stumbled,
         Felt confused, almost blind!
 
Went to the bookstore, the shelves were a shamble,
         Frustrated and dazed, I started to amble!
 
The textbooks I needed were nowhere in sight,
     No new books, no used books
     A terrible plight!
 
For a moment, I panicked and started to sigh…
     “Woe is me!” I started to cry.
 
Then a light bulb went off and I ran home to try—
      Abebooks!  Abebooks! The most helpful site…
I’ll have my books soon, if I order tonight!
 
Cheap textbooks, Cheap textbooks,   Abebooks was the place…
And suddenly a smile reappeared on my face!
 
With the click of a button, a number or two, I soon had my textbooks—three used and one new.
 
Cheap textbooks from Abebooks,
         An answer to prayer…
 
Just click, point, and order—there’s everything there!

 

Linda
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC

Oh dear, says Edgar Allan Poe

Once upon a semester dreary, while I pondered impecuniously Over
obtaining pricey volumes of arcane and secret lore-- As I panicked,
nearly snapping, I began to go a-tapping Into Google, into Dogpile,
AltaVista, Bing and Zlore-- I needed textbooks, nothing more.

Deep into those websites peering (tears my eyes a-blearing), Doubting,
dreaming dreams of dollars disappearing through the door; My search was
yet unfinished, and my hopes were all diminished When suddenly in
typeface to bold to be ignored-- AbeBooks.com, and nothing more.

From this website never flitting, I am still so very smitten,
Bookmarked into Firefox-- into learning, my front door.
And I am happ'ly tweeting to all who give me greeting:
Cheap textbooks and lots more.

Jenny
Indiana State University

There once was a girl named Jenny,
Who was especially wily with a penny.
She checked out Abebooks,
Found some great cheap textbooks,
And now she can research antennae!


Martin
University of Texas
Austin, TX

This is just to say

I have not paid
the hideous price
for the textbooks that were
in the bookstore

and which
I found at tremendous
savings
on the web

Forgive me
they were cheap textbooks
so handy
and so sold

 

 

Shelly
University of North Dakota

Cheap textbooks are the bomb!
I get mine at abebooks.com


Jessup
Keller School of Management

Ode to my Cheap textbooks: a haiku
 
afternoon study
cheap textbook pages turning
in a sun-kissed park

Steve
University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS

Alex, searching for cheap textbooks,
Finds the prices high.
Disgruntled, downcast,
Searching, "At last!"
Here's a site where he can buy:

Camus and Shakespeare, Stephen Hawking,
Edgar Allan's raven knocking,
Darwin (who some might find shocking),
Aristotle, Heinlein grokking.

Every science, every whimsy,
Every borogove all mimsy
Can be had, if not for free
Through AbeBooks for a paltry fee.
 
Michaela
Randolph College

I try buying textbooks at the campus bookstore, But woe is me, it
makes my poor head sore.
The prices are so ridiculous, not at all payable News flash: students
are financially unstable!

I go online out of despair
Mayhap I'll find an answer there.
But many sites don't seem quite right
Will I be up at the computer all night?

Or worse yet, doomed to a year without books?
Stuck with professors' dirty looks?
I gnash my teeth and pull my hair.
Oh cruel world, don't you care?

Suddenly-- sweet relief! Abe books understands!
They know just how to meet student demands.
A wonderland of cheap textbooks awaits me; Abe, you don't know how
happy that makes me!
Hannah
University of Texas

Perhaps she could afford a car
With pimped out rims and leather trim
Or hire a butler and a maid
To satisfy her every whim.

She probably could take a trip,
Without a loan shark lending,
To Europe or Antarctica,
Thanks to her frugal spending.

Maybe now she could write a book,
Or a ballad, or a play.
Since, as she knew, time = money
It seemed she had all day.

She could just sit back and relax
There with her balanced checkbooks.
Who knew the possiblities
That came from finding great cheap textbooks?



Did the poetry put you in the mood for great deals? Find cheap textbooks.