{"id":530062,"date":"2025-12-18T12:43:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T17:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/northernvirginiamag.com\/?p=530062"},"modified":"2025-12-18T13:03:55","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T18:03:55","slug":"childrens-book-returned-to-chantilly-regional-library-after-36-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/northernvirginiamag.com\/news\/2025\/12\/18\/childrens-book-returned-to-chantilly-regional-library-after-36-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Children\u2019s Book Returned to Chantilly Regional Library After 36 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Overdue library books are a part of life. But it\u2019s rare that you find one that was returned after nearly four decades. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fairfax County Public Library recently posted on its Facebook page<\/a> that a copy of Harry the Dirty Dog<\/em> by Gene Zio made its way back to the Chantilly Regional Library after 36 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"copy
Courtesy Fairfax County Public Library (left) and Dimitris Economou<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Harry’s Long Journey<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Dimitris Economou and his family recently discovered the book. \u201cThis book was checked out Nov. 6, 1989 by my parents who were diplomats based in DC at the time,\u201d wrote Dimitris in the note he included with the book. \u201cThey are now retired in Greece and I found this book on their shelves. It traveled the world and was well taken care of as you can see. And now it can find its way home.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book was originally checked out by Aris and Marina Economou for Dimitris, who was 5 years old at the time. After moving out of the area in 1996, the book got lost in the shuffle and made the journey with the family as they moved from country to country \u2014 which includes stops in Syria, The Netherlands, and Japan \u2014 before making its final stop in Athens, Greece.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was reading it to my son, who is now seven years old,\u201d said Dimitris. \u201cAs we got to the end, I realized it was a library book. \u2026 The moment I saw it, I felt like I had to return it. … It just felt like the right thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dimitris returned the book to the library over Thanksgiving weekend while visiting relatives in the area. As a fine-free library, Chantilly Regional accepted the book, and the copy of Harry the Dirty Dog<\/em> has since been returned to the library\u2019s shelves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feature image courtesy Dimitris Economou<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A copy of \u201cHarry the Dirty Dog\u201d traveled to Syria, the Netherlands, Japan, and Greece before finding its way back to Northern Virginia.\n","protected":false},"author":1001795,"featured_media":530066,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41098],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-530062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nChildren\u2019s Book Returned to Chantilly Library After 36 Years<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A copy of \u201cHarry the Dirty Dog\u201d traveled to Syria, the Netherlands, Japan, and Greece before returning back to Northern Virginia.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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