Man returns library book — 47 years later

Robert Nuranen pays $171 in fees; librarian says ‘it’s never too late’

Video: Strange news

Great tennis balls of fire!
Dec. 2: By dousing an ordinary tennis ball in lighter fluid and setting it alight, an Internet video shows children turning one of the world’s most genteel sports into one of the most dangerous.

State capitol hosts nativity, atheist displays

Bloomberg slams Plaxico

Man rescued from collapsed water main

Foul play: Athletes' dumbest moments

Political debate with a water back

Workplace porn on the rise

updated 10:36 a.m. ET Jan. 7, 2007

HANCOCK, Mich. - Robert Nuranen handed the local librarian a book he’d checked out for a ninth-grade assignment — along with a check for 47 years worth of late fees.

Nuranen said his mother misplaced the copy of “Prince of Egypt” while cleaning the house. The family came across it every so often, only to set it aside again. He found it last week while looking through a box in the attic.

“I figured I’d better get it in before we waited another 10 years,” he said after turning it in Friday with the $171.32 check. “Fifty-seven years would be embarrassing.”

Story continues below ↓

advertisement | your ad here

The book, with its last due date stamped June 2, 1960, was part of the young Nuranen’s fascination with Egypt. He went on to visit that country and 54 others, and all 50 states, he said, but he never did finish the book.

Nuranen now lives in Los Angeles, where he teaches seventh-grade social studies and language arts.

The library had long ago lost any record of the book, librarian Sue Zubiena said.

“I’m going to use it as an example,” she said. “It’s never too late to return your books.”