[eru]

We also had a bunch of text books in German school, but much cheaper backpacks were able to carry them.

(And, you could also just 'forget' your textbook, and nothing really happened.)

[gnicholas]

We were very grateful that in senior year there was an extra set of bio textbooks available in the classroom. Those suckers (Campbell) were monsters! For our other classes it was pretty much mandatory to bring your book, or risk the wrath of your teacher.

[eru]

Of course, you could also just coordinate with the kid sitting next to you, to share one textbook. Lightens the load by 50%.