Dad returns overdue book to elementary school after 40 years

May 24 (UPI) -- Pier Fazzalari of Michigan has returned an elementary school library book he checked out over 40 years ago.

Fazzalari discovered the book, an anthology series titled Cloverleaf, from an old box in his parent's basement.

He checked it out from Dresden Elementary School when he was in the second grade and pulled it out of the box to read to his two daughters, who now attend the same school.

"I pulled the old book out and thought 'I remember this one,' and when I opened the page and it was stamped Dresden Elementary," Fazzalari told the Utica Community Schools website.

"I was like, 'why would it say that?' And then I realized it was probably from when I was in second grade and I never returned it. I thought I should probably bring it up to the school," he continued.

Fazzalari told Principal Bradly Suggs about the book, who said he was thrilled that the father of two took time out of his day to read to his children.

"I stated to him that I was not sure how big of a fine a 40-year-old book would be. Jokingly, I told him I would have to figure that one out. We then decided that a book fine that overdue could only be repaid by him buying cookies for the staff, and we sent him an overdue notice stating so," Suggs said.

Dresden Elementary School also uploaded a photo to Facebook of Fazzalari with the book and his two daughters.

Recently, a British library said a book checked out over 60 years ago was returned after it was found at another library in Croatia.