Well, the release of the novella The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, the latest missive from Stephenie Meyer, has been a bookstore dud. I read the listservs for ABC and NECBA and according to booksellers on those lists, sales have been pretty disappointing.
One bookseller even had a midnight release party with bands, pizza and giveaways, only to end the night having sold two, count ’em two, books. Other bookstores reported sales of no greater than four. We’ve only sold three. Why is this, I wondered.
Well, it seems that the book, all 192 pages of it, has been available as a FREE download since noon yesterday. So let’s do some math here. Buy the book for $12.95 at your local indie or wait a mere day and a half after the on-sale date and read it for FREE. Let’s guess what the kids are going to do. However, I totally understand and applaud Stephenie Meyer’s impulse to reward her readers. But if she wants to help actually sell the book and ensure the Red Cross gets its a dollar for every book sold as promised, maybe waiting for a month after the release date would have been a nice compromise. I know there was a push to have folks read the book before the movie, but some sort of distance between the book’s release and the free download would have been great. Maybe, just maybe, this novella would have been better as a web-only read — think of the money the publisher could have saved on not producing a book that doesn’t stand a chance competing against a free download.
What really irritates me is that I was not told when I placed my order for 50 books that it would be available FREE fewer than 36 hours after my strict on-sale date. This kind of competition, directly from the publisher, is frustrating and disheartening. It’s hard enough to compete with the steep discounts of Target, Walmart and Amazon, but to have free downloads available to anyone with a computer fewer than two days after I get the book makes me want to weep.
My only consolation is the book isn’t too heavy, so our five boxes of returns won’t strain my back.

Every day there are milestones in a child’s life. Owning a bookstore for 14 years means we’ve seen our fair share of them. The first of course, is customers having babies. There’s nothing as fun as a good customer having a baby. It’s exciting and, selfishly, it means another little reader has come into the world. So far, not one woman has gone into labor at the store, although this past year, we had two women come to the store on their due dates to spur their little ones along.
Elizabeth once had a child take his first steps, ever, toward her in the picture book section. This little guy was determined to walk (there’s nothing quite as adorable as the tenacity of a child desperate to walk) and Elizabeth held out her arms while the mom was looking at books, and over he walked. And once he figured it out, he kept walking to her, much to the mom’s delight.
Last weekend a girl lost her tooth at the store. I looked up from the register and this girl was calmly holding a tissue to her bleeding mouth. At first I thought she had somehow walked into something, but her grandma explained what had happened. Grandma, who was taking care of the girl for the weekend, quickly thrust a fairy book at me to hide, saying, “It’ll be from the Tooth Fairy.”  Nothing like having the Tooth Fairy shop at your store.
One of my favorite moments are when kids put it all together and actually read for the first time at the store. This has happened about five times and every time it just delights me. There’s nothing like the expression on a parent’s face when they realize their kid is actually reading the title of the books they’re looking at. Once it happened and the child was absurdly young, maybe four, and she just walked around pointing out words. The mom and I just watched, mouths agape and stunned.
Last night I went to dinner with friends and my waiter was a young man who has shopped at the store since the first week.  Will was an earnest four-year-old who loved books. His mom was reading him Maybelle the Cable Car and Will couldn’t enjoy the story because he was distracted by all the female vehicles. He asked his Mom, “But who will watch the little children?” Oh, out of the mouths of babes. This young man is now 17 and a very competent server. I resisted the urge to ask for water incessantly and send food back just to bust his chops.
To watch a child grow in store visits is a very lovely thing. This past spring has seen so many college graduates, home for the summer, popping by to say hi and catch up, each one with stories about how much they loved the store when they were growing up. It just makes my day. Of course there is that weird bookstore time warp that allows the children to grow and mature, while I stay the same age I was when I opened the store.

What with BEA interrupting our routines last week and me playing post-honeymoon catch up, I am finding far too little time to write up posts about either trip. I have, in fact, been so busy that until last night I had no idea what an amazing job my husband (illustrator/graphic novelist Gareth Hinds) has been doing of recapping our honeymoon on his blog!
One quick note: I met a lot of ShelfTalker readers at BEA who knew that I’m married to a guy named Gareth but weren’t aware (until they met him) that he illustrates books. That’s the fault of my feeling it would be downright obnoxious for me to link to Gareth’s website or use his full name every time I mention him in a husband context. It would be like putting air quotes around his name every time I said it in conversation, or following every mention of his name with “You know — my husband? Gareth HINDS? Candlewick has published his graphic novel adaptions of Beowulf, The Merchant of Venice, King Lear, and The Odyssey, which is coming in October, is truly wonderful, will appeal to readers of all ages, and will be welcomed with open arms by every teacher who has ever had to introduce his/her students to Homer? Yeah. That’s him!” I’m afraid that, in general, that just isn’t my style! Now that I’ve done it once, though, you should all be up to speed.
In any case, while you wait for me to tell you more about our European adventures (the book-related bits, at least) and/or BookExpo trip, take a look at Gareth’s blog, which at this point covers the entirety of our week in Paris and will soon also include recaps of our week in London. All of the drawings/paintings you find there were done by him, and the photos (with just a few exceptions) were taken by me.
If you start reading from the blog’s main page be sure to click on the “continue reading” link to see a post in its entirety. To read the Paris posts in chronological order, you can follow these direct links:
Paris – Day 1
Paris – Day 2
Paris – Day 3
Paris – Day 4
Paris – Day 5
Paris – Day 6
Paris – Day 7
Paris – Day 8
Do you have favorite Paris spots that we missed in our travels? If so I’d love to know what they are, so I can add them to the roster for next time (whenever that might be)!

This past week before BEA officially began, a publisher invited 12 booksellers to their offices for 4 hours to talk about books. The publisher of a division, the higher-ups in marketing, and the head of sales were all in attendance and they were all ready to listen. We talked about their books and how they could help us sell them more effectively. This discussion wasn’t just about them, it was also about us, the booksellers, and what we needed from the publisher to make selling their books easier, more profitable and more enjoyable.
I must confess, these kinds of meetings are my favorite kind of meetings. Things can actually happen at these. People in a position of power, eager for bookseller input, listen in the hopes of making things better.
The meeting began by age, with picture books. Are they selling? If so, in what format? What I found the most intriguing were what the other booksellers from all over the country had to say. Where I have a hard time selling hardcover picture books, some stores only sell them and their market expects that from them. Another store doesn’t discount anything, at all, ever. Oh, how I wished that were my store. Different regions have different behaviors and the publisher was learning that just as I was.
Chapter books came next, and again the responses were varied. I sell them by the fist-full in paperback, but not so much in hardcover, while other stores sell mostly hardcovers. One thing we all said that there needs to be a longer format picture book that is packaged more like a chapter book. Longer picture books are lovely books, but there’s a been a shift with consumers who think any picture book is too “babyish” for their seven or eight-year-old who just wants to leap ahead into chapter books, but would still adore a longer format picture book. We strategized with the publisher on how to create a market for this very important genre.
One thing I can’t convey is the energy in the room. These booksellers were a fabulous mix of fairly new to seasoned store owners. Ideas were bouncing around and one person’s idea spurred someone else’s great idea. I learned different ways to treat the oddball books you love that aren’t easily categorized. One store has a section, “Keeping Austin Weird, One Book at a Time section.” I adore this idea. It says so much about the section that, if I lived in Austin, I would always check out that section first.
The gratifying part of this whole session for me was being heard. I got to vent about excessive packaging on galleys, others got to vent about other issues near and dear to them. The publisher was incredibly amenable to helping the store work with libraries more, going so far as to suggest sending galley sets with multiple copies for libraries or school groups to use. This is the sort of useful thing that publishers could do more of to help indies secure the school and library markets.
We had a minutes-long discussion about what customers prefer as giveaways: buttons or stickers. I prefer stickers, while other stores waxed rhapsodic about how well buttons work in their stores. I think this confused the publisher: what will get used more? Well, it really depends on the store, and that makes it hard for the publishers to know how to spend their promo dollars for things that will get used. I know it sounds silly to talk about buttons versus stickers, but this highlights the challenges we all face: how can we use the promo items we’re given in a way that works for us? How many times has my store gotten pencil packs that I’m supposed to be give out every time someone buys that book and forgotten to give out the pencil? The bottom line from all the booksellers was: make it simple for me and my staff, whatever it is.
We talked about middle grade mysteries next. It was interesting because this conversation turned into a wide-ranging discussion about middle grade novels in general. We concluded that the lines between YA and middle grade have become blurred and middle grade is often starting to feel like YA-lite. We all expressed desire for a chart of some sort that let us know what the content really was, so we can sell with confidence any middle grade novel. Every publisher is different and not all middle grade novels are necessarily age-appropriate when it comes to content. This publisher was incredibly receptive to helping create a content/theme chart for stores to use. This was particularly welcome at stores that sometimes have non-children’s booksellers covering the kids’ department.
The last thing we hashed out was how to make the last week of December more profitable. While the publisher was insistent that the last week of December could be a great time to release a hot new title, all the booksellers tried really hard to dissuade them from this idea. A hot book, one that could sell for the holidays, should come out before Christmas and Hanukah, so we can sell to folks who are looking for present ideas. By the last week of December booksellers are understaffed, exhausted and generally dealing with returns and exchanges. This was a fascinating discussion because for the first time, the booksellers and the publisher were on opposite sides. But through really talking it out and everyone listening, we all came up with ways to make a book release the last week of the year work for all parties. And we’ll have to wait until later in the year to see if it works out.
The publisher left the meeting invigorated and the booksellers felt heard in a meaningful way. This was a win-win for all involved. One way for publishers to have more “face time” with booksellers is to come to the regional association meetings and set up meetings with a panel of  booksellers. I think it’s important for publishers and booksellers to meet periodically to remind each other that we are all working toward the same goals.

Twice a year, members of the New England Children’s Booksellers Advisory (NECBA) council to NEIBA (New England Independent Booksellers Association) read and review as many middle-grade and young-adult ARCs (advance reading copies) and galleys as possible. We post our reviews on the NECBA listserv (which is open to all NEIBA and NECBA members) and collate them at the end of each season in pdf form for stores to download or link to on the NECBA website (which is open to the public).
It’s a great way for colleagues to share what they’re reading with one another, useful both for smaller stores that don’t receive as many ARCs, and for larger stores that receive almost too many. The Review Project helps spread the news about quiet gems that otherwise might slip under the radar, and dishes the straight dirt on super-hyped books.
Of the hundreds of MG and YA novels published between January and June 2010, we’ve reviewed just shy of 80 titles. Some of the season’s offerings receive several reviews and ratings from booksellers; others receive none. Often, books that don’t need much handselling help don’t end up in the Review Project — which results in an interesting and unpredictable Top Ten list. We indie booksellers like championing unusual finds.
The Review Project was begun several years ago by enterprising souls such as Carol Chittenden, proprietor of Eight Cousins Children’s Books in Falmouth, Mass. As she wrote in one of the first-ever Project introductions, “This list is our attempt to identify as many high-quality titles as possible from among the numerous releases of middle-grade and young-adult fiction between January and June of the year. [Ed. note: We do a second round-up, of July-December titles.] From these titles a Top Ten list has been selected as a service to our general bookstore colleagues who are less familiar with the genre. As is ever the case, contributions are uneven, with some publishers supplying a very large fraction of the galleys, and a few reviewers supplying a very large fraction of the reviews. Such reviews are, by their nature, never soon enough or inclusive enough. Nevertheless, this list is bound to alert the reader to at least one or two — and probably more — excellent titles s/he otherwise might have missed.”
The Review Project has always been fiction-oriented, but with the groundswell of enthusiasm and support for trade nonfiction from readers and bookstores across the board, we’re hoping to expand our reach to include marvelous MG and YA nonfiction titles beginning with the Fall Review Project this year.
Now all we need is about two extra months of uninterrupted reading time, about six times a year. <grin>
NECBA’s 2010 Spring Review Project — TOP TEN TITLES (Warning: some reviews contain spoilers)

Countdown, by Deborah Wiles
From the NECBA review by bookseller Suzanna Hermans of Oblong Books & Music in Rhinebeck, N.Y.: “In this fantastic debut historical novel, 11-year-old Franny is growing up in the early 1960s. Against a backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis, she deals with a mysteriously absent older sister, an uncle who is suffering from undiagnosed PTSD, and a changing dynamic in her circle of friends. I loved this book. Franny is a great character, and Wiles has set her in an incredibly interesting time period…. What makes this book completely unique is the non-fiction component that Wiles integrates into the book. Between each chapter there are pages and pages of real images from the 1960s: photos of Kennedy and Khrushchev, propaganda art, real newspaper headlines and quotes, among many others. These serve to help the reader imagine life in the 1960s and see the same images the characters see…. This will make a great companion piece to The Watsons Go to Birmingham. Since this is the first in a companion trilogy about the 1960s, I can see Wiles giving Christopher Paul Curtis a run for his money in his stranglehold on 1960s middle-grade historical fiction. I wouldn’t be surprised one bit if Countdown took home an ALA Award of some sort next January.”
As Simple as It Seems, by Sarah Weeks
From the review by NECBA bookseller Kat Goddard of The Bookloft in Great Barrington, Mass.: “Over the course of this lovely story, 11 year old Verbena Colter finds out that she is adopted and that her birth father is in jail for murder, finds out that her birth mother caused her to be born with fetal alcohol syndrome, loses her best friend to a rival and is cast adrift in a leaky boat with a multi-allergic nine year old boy, who doesn’t know she is only pretending to be a ghost.  Those dramatic events may seem like the plot of any common juvenile page-turner, in Sarah Weeks’ competent hands this book is anything but. Perfect for 8-11s (especially those with a less dramatic background) this is a story of learning who you are and where you fit in the world. It is also a story of learning to appreciate what you have. Since book buyers rarely come in to the store asking for a book that will gently teach these valuable lessons, you can also describe it by merely saying it is a book about friendship and growing up. With no current events, violence, or romance this is a book I can easily sell now and forever.”
Crunch, by Leslie Connor
From the review by NECBA bookseller Carol Chittenden of Eight Cousins Children’s Books in Falmouth, Mass.: “Not since The Penderwicks have I so happily abandoned other chores for the pure pleasure of reading a well written middle grade book to the end. Synopsis: 14-year-old Dewey Marriss, second oldest of five siblings, is in charge of the family bike repair business while his parents take their annual “vacation.” (Mom accompanies trucker dad on one of his hauls to Canada.) Lil, at 18, is in charge of the household; smart Vince, 12, is anti-social; and the 5-year-old twins are sweet but dependent. It’s a functioning family group, but a sudden fuel crisis keeps the parents away and makes the bike business boom. Dewey is determined to demonstrate that he’s just as responsible and capable as Lil – but in ten days’ time, demand overwhelms capacity, and Dewey has to face some limits. He also has to face a parts shortage, a crabby neighbor, Sprocket the billy goat, unreasonable customers, a dog that upchucks when it gets too excited, and a growing larceny problem for which there are multiple suspects. Readers may well want to move in with the Marriss family long before the satisfying ending, though they might just as easily come to see adventure and opportunity in their own quotidian routines.”
Middleworld, by J&P Voelkel
From the review by NECBA bookseller Kenny Brechner of DDG Booksellers in Farmington, Maine: “Max leaves his Bostonian digs to seek his parents who, he finds upon landing in (mythical South American country) San Xavier, are lost in the jungle. He teams up with a very funny, acerbic Mayan girl, Lola, and together with some allies square off against the long hand of the descendants of evil missionaries. Max and Lola are a great duo, and Max’s lighthearted but self -honest narration lends a good, comfortable feel to the story. We like the good guys, we loathe the bad guys, and we can’t wait to find out about the Yellow Jaguar Stone in book two. And if Zia does turn out to be Lola’s mother, and even if, after his Uncle gives up his lucrative smuggling side line to  just concentrate on the family banana business, Uncle Ted’s now disused multi-million dollar secret smuggling lair suddenly comes in handy in the future, well why shouldn’t it?  A strong current will carry heavy debris downstream that would sink in more placid waters. Middleworld has an exuberance to it, a swift current which not only makes it a pleasure to read, but buoys its clunkier elements. The Voelkels plainly love Mayan culture, and their knowledge and passion for it makes this timely tale of the end of days in the Mayan Calendar, and the world’s great peril, something to be cared about not out of the perfunctory need to save the world, but because the Voelkels’ Mayan world is fun and engaging. This truly is a book that can be handsold with impunity.”
Cosmic, by Frank Cottrell Boyce
From the review by NECBA bookseller Sue Carita from The Toadstool Bookshop in Milford, N.H.: “Twelve-year-old Liam has stubble on his chin, is very tall and often 
mistaken for a grown-up. This gets him into all sorts of funny 
situations and he certainly takes advantage of them!
 When he “wins” a chance to be part of a brand new, totally thrilling, 
for real, amusement park ride into outer space, he plays the adult 
charade to the hilt, taking along Florida, his gutsy young classmate, as 
his daughter. Besides being very funny, the story explores what it 
means to be a dad.  All sorts of fathers accompany their 
”prize-winning” kids halfway around the world to the site of the launch. 
All of them are very gullible, competitive, and lacking in real father 
skills. Liam, the only “parent” allowed to accompany the kids, outshines 
them all as he uses his common sense and very useful computer game 
skills to bring the kids’ rocket safely back to Earth. The ending comes 
rather fast (whew — I was ready!) and seems a bit trumped up, but this 
suspenseful, charming and funny story is even better than Boyce’s Millions and Framed.
As Easy As Falling Off the Face of the Earth, by Lynne Rae Perkins (978-0061870903; Greenwillow)

Another fine review from Sue Carita: “Ry, sixteen, is on his way to archaelogical camp when he learns that the camp has closed. When the train stops, he jumps off to make a cell phone call to his grandfather, who is newly arrived at Ry’s house to dog-sit. Parents have gone to Caribbean for sailing vacation. No cell coverage for Ry, train takes off, and he is marooned in the middle of nowhere. Ensuing chapters tell of Grandpa’s fall into sinkhole which causes a sort of amnesia, then his link-up with a couple of dotty sisters, his parents’ terrible mishaps on the islands, and black and white comic book pages show what is up with the two dogs who have run off. Ry manages to link up with Del who is a good-hearted modern day jack of all trades. They set off together to find the parents, starting with an old patched-up truck, then a rickety homemade airplane, and a sailboat. Misguided journey aside, this wacky tale includes happenings both funny and harrowing, but Perkins keeps it light in tone. Ry wants adventure and he gets it! Determination, very blind faith and bull-dogged stubbornness bring the story to an improbable conclusion that will relieve readers hanging on for the ride of the year! Lots to think about- and enjoy.”
A Conspiracy of Kings, by Megan Whalen Turner
From the review by NECBA bookseller Kathleen “Totsie” McGonagle of Buttonwood Books and Toys in Cohasset, Mass.: “A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner is the fourth book in her series about the fictional kingdoms of Eddis, Attolia and Sounis and about the wonderful characters that populate those territories. The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, and The King of Attolia are the first three books in the series. Each is complete in itself, but when one reads the books out of order, the continuity is lost and plot points from previous books are revealed. It would be my suggestion to read them in order. A Conspiracy of Kings focuses on the kingdom of Sounis. Sophos, the unwilling heir to the throne of Sounis, is more scholarly than combative. Due to much civil unrest in the kingdom, Sounis is kidnapped and his appearance temporarily altered after a severe beating. The original plan by his captors is to smuggle Sophos through the country in plain sight, and then to hide him with one of the rebelling barons. He is to be a pawn to be bartered when appropriate. An opportunity to escape from his captors materializes and Sophos joins the farm hands and hides within their world. The time spent within the laborers camp affords Sophos several opportunities to reflect and mature. When the growing escalation among the rebel groups threaten to kill his father and subject his country to a foreign power, Sophos must emerge from his anonymity and claim his title as king. Fans of writer Megan Whalen Turner will be delighted with A Conspiracy of Kings. It complements and completes the characters introduced in the earlier books. Filled with adventure, romance and complex characters, fans of medieval style fiction will spend many delightful hours lost in its pages.”
How I, Nicky Flynn, Finally Get a Life (and a Dog), by Art Corriveau
From the review by Carol Chittenden: “Nicky, age 11 ¾, narrates with a hilariously nervous internal monologue about getting his bearings in a tough Boston neighborhood after his parents split and left their affluent suburban life. His mother is a little impulsive, and brings Reggie, a German shepherd home from the pound to their tiny Charlestown apartment. Nicky is appalled, but forced to care for Reggie, and discovers that Reggie is a trained guide dog. Gradually boy and dog bond. But Nicky’s so busy suppressing his rage at his parents’ breakup that he spins all kinds of white lies at school, at home, and around the community as he tries to figure out why Reggie is no longer an official guide dog. And Nicky’s VERY good at dreaming up excuses on his feet, until the whole web comes apart, releasing Nicky’s tensions, cleaning up a number of ragged relationships, and giving a fine dog a good home.
The author has integrated fascinating material about guide dogs and visual disabilities, so the book would be a great teaching asset – but he’s also constructed it so tightly, with plenty of snappy dialogue, it’ll keep readers hooked on the story, and would make a terrific screenplay as well.”
NECBA bookseller Ellen Richmond of the Children’s Book Cellar in Waterville, Maine, adds: “I, too, really like How I, Nicky Flynn, Finally Get a Life (and a Dog). Nicky’s voice is distinctive and believable throughout. He’s a kid trying to deal with circumstances that he doesn’t like and that he can’t control. Though he doesn’t see it, his mother is struggling, too. Her impulsive adoption of Reggie is just one attempt to help convince Nicky (and herself) that they’ve got a great new life. Nicky blames his mother for all his miseries, from having to walk Reggie to being bullied at school and not seeing his father (even on scheduled weekends). His quest to learn Reggie’s history gives Nicky some focus other than his anger. Nicky’s lies are not born of meanness, but are (as Carol said) dreamed up on the fly, in a sticky situation. One plot point that seemed a bit forced is the sudden conversion of Nicky’s arch nemesis into a friend and ally, but that’s a minor complaint. Threatened with Reggie being returned to the pound, Nicky and Reggie go on the lam; Nicky is forced to face some truths that white lies will not help. I appreciated the upbeat, but not unrealistically perfect, ending.”
The Tweenage Guide to NOT Being UNPopular (Amelia Rules 5), by Jimmy Gownley
From the review by NECBA bookseller Elizabeth Bluemle, of The Flying Pig Bookstore in Shelburne, Vt. (that’s me): “Here, Amelia and her nerdy buddy posse are struggling with the age-old issue of popularity, and I love how Gownley hits it — giving them a solid sense of themselves with just enough doubt (and yearning to be popular) to ring very true. The book opens with sarcastic, smart-mouthed-but-mostly-goodhearted Amelia and her friend, “Rhonda with the lumpy hair,” dressed in dorky space-age costumes, running from an angry mob of classmates. They escape up a tree, and the backstory eventually unfolds, along with subplots about cheerleaders, existential questioning (can the advice “be true to yourself” apply to jerks?), and the uncomfortable reality of facing one’s own worst behavior (ignoring the kids even nerdier than oneself, spouting off mean truths about people in a fit of impulsive anger, etc.). Fortunately, Amelia has a sympathetic young aunt and a solid, kind mom in addition to her goofball gang of friends, to help her figure it all out.
Gownley salts and peppers his stories with tongue-in-cheek homages to other cartoonists and literary influences, from Bloom County to Archie to Harriet the Spy. I think of Amelia’s gang o’ buddies as a latter-day Peanuts, the subversive, brilliant Peanuts comic strips Charles M. Schulz was writing in the 60s and 70s. This is one of the best graphic novel series out there for kids—and for adults with vivid, funny memories of childhood.
Note: This is number 5 in the series. While it absolutely can be read as a stand-alone (I’ve read books 1 and 2, but not the rest, yet), it’s probably most enjoyable for readers who have watched Amelia’s trials and tribulations from the beginning.”
Finnikin of the Rock, by Melina Marchetta
From the review by NECBA bookseller Sandy Scott of The Galaxy Bookshop in Hardwick, Vt.: “Finnikin’s kingdom and its people were ravaged by traitors who murdered the royal family and set in place a new king to rule. During the five days of terror that accompanied the coup, however, a powerful witch was burned at the stake, and her parting words were a curse upon the land that kept those who had left from returning and those who remained from leaving. Finnikin was among those exiled to foreign lands, and he has spent most of his teenage years traveling with his mentor, the King’s First Man, trying to help his fellow exiles and find a glimmer of hope for the return of his homeland. When he is contacted by a messenger who tells him to retrieve a girl named Evanjalin from a cloister, a girl who has the gift of walking through the dreams of their scattered countrymen. She tells him that she knows the true heir to the throne still lives and that they must find him and return to their kingdom to take it back.
Evanjalin and Finnikin’s world is brutal and the complexity of the characters in this book reflects that brutality. Good men and women commit murder; one character who tries to rape Evanjalin is later redeemed; the people who have been oppressed rise up and take bloody revenge on their oppressors. The murders, and especially rapes (though not written in great detail), are why I would recommend this for teens. Finnikin of the Rock is a riveting story that will appeal to readers who want excitement, mystery, and romance and don’t mind the violence. I’d recommend it to fans of Graceling.
***

So, dear readers, there you have it. What are your Top Ten of the January-July 2010 season?

My BEA experience this year is somewhat different than in the past.  My stint in the emergency room two weeks ago (see What to Read in an Emergency for full details) made me take BEA a lot more slowly than in years past.
The first day I got to the Javits Center later than normal. I had to pick up my electric scooter first, a sad necessity this year, but a really fun one: bright red with a real back-up horn and a headlight. I was all set for cruising the floor.  One comment I have to make about finding myself in a wheelchair is how people look, or more accurately, don’t look at me.  People looked past me all day and it was disconcerting. I had real empathy for folks who are confined to wheelchairs as people just didn’t notice me at all.  Wheelchair or not, I will not be denied my coffee.
My first session was the Children’s Bookselling Roundtable that Elizabeth Bluemle and I moderated. While the discussions at each of the 11 tables was lively, the group share found everyone suddenly shy. This was a little frustrating for me as I only sat in on the co-op discussion and would have liked to hear from every table. I did learn that one store has developed a rate sheet for every part of her store for getting co-op. A front counter display for week? $50. Front window for three weeks? $300. What I loved about this approach is it’s smart. It treats the  whole store as the valuable selling space it is.
After struggling to get a cab (4 pm is taxi shift change and it’s a near impossibility), I made my way to the ABC Not-a-Dinner and (Mostly) Silent Auction at the Edison Ballroom. I loved this venue  — very art deco and lovely, perhaps a wee bit small for the throngs of children’s booksellers, publishers, author and illustrators who happily filled the two levels of the ballroom.
Michael Buckley was the  emcee for the evening and he did an admirable job considering there was a lot of crowd noise to contend to speak over. He sang a lovely rendition of “I’ve Been Everywhere Man,” mentioning every bookstore he’s ever been to. I was thrilled when he included the Flying Pig, as I’m sure all the other stores were when they heard their names.
David Wiesner was the keynote speaker. I always love it when illustrators show slides from when they were kids. David showed one slide of himself painting at an easel with two art instruction books by his feet. There was a loveliness to that image will stay with me. I must confess, David Wiesner is one of my favorite illustrators and Sector 7 continues to delight me. The process of making art and story fascinates me; I loved learning that he makes models for characters he’s drawing. David’s new book, Art and Max, looks to be another visually arresting story about art.
The E.B. White Read Aloud awards were announced with flair by Elizabeth Bluemle, ABC President and Valerie Koehler, ABC Vice President. What made these awards really special was, much like the Academy Awards, there was a fun moment of  “the envelope please,” as the winners remained secret until announced. The award for younger readers went to Peter Brown for The Curious Garden. The winner of the older read aloud award was none other than Kate Messner (who shops at the Flying Pig!) for her middle grade novel, The Brilliant Fall of Gianni Z.
After the awards presentation, the bidding began in earnest for the amazing art that ringed the room. While this year’s event had more style than last year’s, it was awfully hard to see all the art because of the throngs of people. Last year, the room of art was easier to walk around and view. I placed a bid or two for some pieces, but didn’t get them. Judging from the dollar amounts I saw on the bid sheets, this was a good night for ABC.
Wednesday was the show floor. I tried to get there early  as the scooter did make it hard to navigate the aisles. I felt like the end of every aisle was like merging on a California highway, just too many people. I  saw as much as I could and tried not to take too many galleys or catalogs, although the scooter’s basket made it a lot easier to load up on things.
That night I was lucky enough to have a dinner with the lovely folks at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt with David Wiesner at Mesa Grill. While David was too far away to speak to, I enjoyed the riotous company of the HMH staffers who had me in stitches the whole dinner. And this is where BEA ended for me. Shortly after getting home from the dinner, I found myself heading for an emergency room because of some complications from my earlier hospital stay. I can happily report that everything is more than fine with my health. I have been deeply touched by everyone’s concern, and I can’t wait for next year when I’ll be scooter-less on the show floor and can really zoom around.
I must say, the folks at Beth Israel Hospital were great. The emergency room was packed, so Elizabeth and I didn’t make it back to the hotel until 6 am. I missed her author signing Thursday at 9 am (I heard it was great), the ABC annual meeting (informative, but sparsely attended) and the author tea, which I always love.
This BEA was a bad blur for me. I felt like I barely connected with anyone and that was such a disappointment for me. I missed my bookseller friends and I missed the chance to really talk to publishers. One thing I’ve learned, though, is just how much I love BEA.
And I can’t wait for next year.

I’ve been to BEA 10 years in a row and every year I think, “Should I go? Can I afford to go? Can my store do without me?” And every year the year, the answer is yes, yes and yes.
BEA is a special event that leaves me fulfilled and excited as a bookseller in a way that nothing else can. I’m excited to see my bookseller, author, and illustrator friends again, always a highlight for me. I often forget, as I toil in isolation, that there are other booksellers who are facing exactly the same problems I am. This is why I love the roundtable discussions. This year, the children’s bookselling roundtable takes place on Tuesday from 2:30-4 (see the BEA Planning blog post for a full schedule of children’s-bookselling-related events). Getting a room full of children’s booksellers together is a powerful thing, and I always leave the discussion lighter, more hopeful, and inspired.
The ABC Not-a-Dinner and (Mostly) Silent Auction evening is another yearly treat. The speakers are always wonderful (this year: Michael Buckley MCs, and David Wiesner gives the keynote talk), and for the past couple of years, the ABC has unveiled the E.B. White Read-Aloud awards live at the ceremony instead of announcing them beforehand, which adds some fun suspense and jubilant celebration in the moment. As for the auction, the artwork available for bidding is truly outstanding. This year there are about 140 pieces, with 60 more to be auctioned online (this will be great for booksellers who can’t make it to BookExpo this year). One of my pre-BEA planning sessions is figuring out what my budget is for the silent auction. This year I’ll be hard-pressed to stay within budget. But as I bid, I’ll remind myself that the auction is a benefit for the ABC. That means I can justify bidding on something by, say, Marla Frazee or Peter Sís, knowing that my funds are going into programming that will benefit my store. (Note to self: see if accountant goes for this.)
Wednesday and Thursday are days for the show floor, looking at books and sidelines and stopping by some author autographing sessions. I will be zipping along in my rented scooter (I wasn’t kidding about that in my last post; it was the only way my doctor would let me come to BEA) to look at the vendors. I am hoping to make the scooter work for me because my feet won’t hurt and I can really look at things. Of course, I’ll probably be cruising sloooowly rather than zipping, since the show floor is packed at the Javits Center and people probably won’t want me rolling over their toes. I apologize in advance for the hip checks and poor turn control; I haven’t gotten my license yet.
Honestly, BEA never gets old. Every educational session imparts important facts that can make your store run more smoothly and more profitably. Every interaction with colleagues, whether at an author breakfast or in the hall, can lead to great ideas. The chance to meet new authors and speak with their publicists is always a pleasure.
As for leaving my store for almost five days, it’s actually good for the staff to not have the bosses around or readily reachable. They prove again how very capable they are and I know they are not only doing a great job, but taking more ownership.  This works out great because when I come back all fired up, ready to share, they’re full of great ideas, too.
So, as you get ready to travel to NYC, remember the real joy of BEA: each other. Plus, swag.

This past Wednesday I found myself in a new position when my brand-new cardiologist suggested that my minor symptoms of chest and jaw pain necessitated a trip to my local emergency room. Wednesday, when hauling in boxes on the hand truck brought on the chest and jaw pain again, I called my doctor. Not only was I told to I had to go to the ER, but that I couldn’t drive myself. Elizabeth was working at home, so I had fifteen minutes to pace the store before she came to pick me up.
So, what does a bookseller do while awaiting transport to the ER? Well, I carefully picked through galleys I thought I looked good. My thought process was surprisingly complex: what books could I pick that would fit every mood I might have at the hospital? I was anticipating the worst, that I might have to stay in the hospital; I needed books that would take me away, that looked compelling and looked fun.
I chose an adult galley, Anthropology of an American Girl by Hilary Thayer Hamann, that just looked wonderful and large enough to captivate me. My younger reader was Rachel Cohn and David Levithan’s Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares, a book of friendship and romance. To round out my selection I chose The Invisible Order by Paul Crilley for any fantasy mood that might strike me.
Each of these books filled a need in me  as I waited to go to the ER. What I didn’t know is, even after spending the night, the hospital is not a conducive place for reading. I had a cardiac catheterization done and while I had six hours of waiting before I was cleared to go home, I could neither move my head off the pillow or raise my right arm above my heart. So, I lay there, barely able to see my stack of books out of the corner of my eye.
The only good thing about all of this is my heart is just fine and now I have to take the next three days recovering from the procedure by doing nothing but reading.

More tidbits from Paris and London are forthcoming. In the meantime I bring some you quick, light entertainment — perfect for those of you having weeks as hectic as the one I’m currently experiencing!
During the three years in which I’ve been writing for ShelfTalker, I have amassed an untold number of notes, ideas, links,  suggestions, thoughts that have never made their way into blog posts. Over time these unmentioned bits and pieces have become a depressing symbol of the things I haven’t done on or for ShelfTalker. I’ve hated to throw them away (in the case of the physical notes) or send them to the recycle bin (in the case of all the e-mails I’ve sent to myself!), because 1) I still like them, and 2) I keep hoping I’ll find some opportunity to include them in a post here or there.
Enter the theme of today’s post and a new plan for yours truly. Every now and again I will do a post featuring five fun things. They will all be book-related, as that’s the theme of ShelfTalker, but in some cases that may be the only thing they have in common, in others not.  Many of them will be culled from my archive of unmentioned tidbits, but others of them will be new material. The point will be to give you five book-related bits of entertainment, or  fivenew things to think about, look at, or long for in each of those five fun things posts.
To kick things off, I give you five interesting or entertaining things that authors have told audiences during events at or sponsored by Wellesley Booksmith at some point during the past nine years (the length of time I’ve been with our store). I KNOW they’ve said these things because I wrote them down at the time. (I find I retain and process their words better if I take notes. The notes later become useful tools for advising other authors on what makes a good school or public presentation and also make for fun trips down memory lane on the rare occasion when I shuffle back through them.)
1. About his dog Earl, author/illustrator/comics artist Patrick McDonnell says, “I always try to put his happiness into my artwork.”
2. Michael Scott, author of the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series (and an terrific presenter), explained to students at a local middle school that mythologies evolve, change, and even relocate over time because they travel with the people who know them. He has found dragon lore in San Francisco that no longer exists in China and banshee stories in New York City that no longer exist in Ireland.
3. Kate Klise (who writes for People magazine when she’s not penning terrific picture books, novels, and non-fiction) tells kids that she never interviewed a guitarist who hadn’t grown up wanting to play just like Joni Mitchell or others in that league. The point, she says, is that imitation is a good way to learn how to do pretty much anything.  (Kate, by the way, cites Harper Lee as the person she was the most excited to meet, out of all those she’s covered in her reporting career.)
4. Until John Green was seven years old he thought he was the only human on earth and that all other “humans” were actually aliens in disguise.
5.  Kid to Kate DiCamillo: “Where do your ideas come from?”
Kate DiCamillo to kid: “Do you know what eavesdropping is?”

It seems as though every ad or promotion for an educational tool promises to “make learning fun!” This reflects our culture’s lazy habit of talking about learning as if it’s inevitably tedious, something kids will resist as vigorously as canned asparagus. Granted, any subject can be made dull by a disaffected teacher, and any lessons centered around “teaching to the test” is not going to light young minds on fire and change lives. But children are learning machines; they love discovery. They enjoy new ideas, and knowing things, and engaging with the world around them. They even love the hard work and discipline involved in learning, as long as it makes them feel purposeful and alive. We all do.
A segment on CBS’s 60 Minutes reminded me of this truth; it featured Gustavo Dudamel, the 29-year-old Venezuelan phenom conductor now heading the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Watching his passion for music was mesmerizing, and was made even more powerful by the way he shares it with thousands of children who might otherwise never have a chance to be involved in anything like the not-for-profit music program he’s helped found in Venezuela and L.A. Watching this wild-haired, unpretentious, semi-goofy wunderkind radiate his love of music, and communicate it to roomfuls of children from kindergarten through high school, made me a little teary. I’m always moved by people doing what they were born to do, and doing it with joy.
If you have a chance to watch the full segment about Dudamel, I guarantee you’ll be inspired, too. (It’s just under 14 minutes.) If you’d like to read about him and see more video clips, here’s a good place to start.
Watching Dudamel’s story made me think about those lazy assumptions we can sometimes make about kids and what they won’t want to do or learn. It left me re-inspired to make sure I not only share my own passion for books with the children at the store, but to share with kids all kinds of books that communicate an author’s or artist’s passion—for language, for story, for history and science and sport and fantasy and family and art and music and friendship—that might resonate with a child’s heart and mind. It’s the least we can do.

Who inspires you, and broadens your thinking about the kinds of books you share with young readers?