Every once in a while, a gem of a book arrives at the store. Last week such a gem was delivered in a Houghton Mifflin box, and the book in question is The Quiet Book. The sign for me that a book is magic is when I hand it to customers and say, “You have to read this.” and they do, and they buy it, even if they came in for a mystery.
This book is deceptively simple.  Straightforward sentences that take you through a day are all about moments when you’re quiet. Beautiful art with a muted palate, done by Renata Liwska, is spot on. “First one awake quiet,” gives way to more unique quiet situations: “Jelly side down quiet.” As two little animals stare at the sandwich on the floor,  wondering what happened. The art is beautiful and somehow the author, Deborah Underwood, has captured so many authentic quiet moments, that this book will become a treasure to read, again and again.
First haircut quiet gives way to last one picked up at school quiet, which conveys all the worry of the last child sitting on the steps waiting for a parent who’s running late. All the notes struck are solidly true. Nothing seems forced or cloying. Each quiet moment is one that makes you try to emulate it. Can I remember, first snow quiet?  Yes, but the book helps, by showing the stillness of the first snow. And it will help young children learn about the quality of quiet moments. I can also see this being a great book to help soothe anxious children who need some gentle calming.
I’m not one for gushing about one book in this blog, but I simply adore this book and know that I’ve horribly under-ordered it, as my display is almost empty. And I’ve quietly made a note to order more this afternoon.

There’s not much that an independent bookseller enjoys more than getting together with colleagues to discuss business and books. When New England Children’s Booksellers Advisory Council (aka NECBA) members gather, we end most meetings by sharing favorite recent reads. Depending on how many of us there are (15-50) and how many books we’re each recommending, we can go home with quite a list.
Occasionally, people will share books that disappointed them, but for the most part, we’re proselytizing. We can’t help ourselves; it’s what we do. It occurred to me that people might be interested in the list compiled during Tuesday’s NECBA meeting in Portland, Maine. All of the books below were enthusiastic recommendations. A few will probably do better in paperback than hardcover, but that’s a reflection of the economy, not the book quality.
There are several books here that have jumped high on my reading list now that my esteemed colleagues have recommended them. Thanks, NECBA folks!
Happy reading, everyone.
Carol Chittenden, Eight Cousins

The Night Fairy, by Laura Amy Schlitz, illus. by Angela Barrett (Candlewick)
Library of Congress (LOC) description: When Flory the night fairy’s wings are accidentally broken and she cannot fly, she has to learn to do everything differently.

Kenny Brechner, DDG Booksellers
Dark Life, by Kat Falls (Scholastic Press)
LOC description: When fifteen-year-old Ty, who has always lived on the ocean floor, joins Topside girl Gemma in the frontier’s underworld to seek and stop outlaws who threaten his home, they learn that the government may pose an even greater threat.
Middleworld: The Jaguar Stones, Book 1, by J & P Voelkel (Egmont USA)
LOC description: When his archaeologist parents go missing in Central America, fourteen-year-old Max embarks on a wild adventure through the Mayan underworld in search of the legendary Jaguar Stones, which enabled ancient Mayan kings to wield the powers of living gods.
Janet Bibeau, Storybook Cove


A Conspiracy of Kings, by Megan Whalen Turner (Greenwillow)
LOC description: Kidnapped and sold into slavery, Sophos, an unwilling prince, tries to save his country from being destroyed by rebellion and exploited by the conniving Mede empire.
Mimi Powell, Baker Books
Wolves, Boys, & Other Things That Might Kill Me, by Kristen Chandler (Viking)
LOC description: Two teenagers become close as the citizens of their town fight over the packs of wolves that have been reintroduced into the nearby Yellowstone National Park.
Boom, by Mark Haddon (Random House/David Fickling)
LOC description: When Jim and Charlie overhear two of their teachers talking in a secret language and the two friends set out to solve the mystery, they do not expect the dire consequences of their actions.
Nancy and Plum, by Betty MacDonald, illus. by Mary GrandPre (Knopf, 2011) (Reprint of the 1952 classic by the author of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. No cover image available.) LOC description: Two orphaned sisters are sent to live at a boarding home run by the cruel and greedy Mrs. Monday, where they dream about someday having enough to eat and being able to experience a real Christmas.
Betsey Detwiler, Buttonwood Books & Toys

Wolves, Boys, & Other Things That Might Kill Me, by Kristen Chandler (Viking)
(a second recommendation for this book)

Pat Fowler, Village Square Books
Crunch, by Leslie Connor (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen)
LOC description: The oldest Mariss brother, fourteen-year-old Dewey, attempts to be the “embodiment of responsibility” as he juggles the management of the family’s bicycle repair business while sharing the household and farm duties with his siblings after a sudden energy crisis strands their parents far from home.
Natacha Liuzzi, Brown Dog Books & Gifts
The Uninvited, by Tim Wynne-Jones (Candlewick)
LOC description: After a disturbing freshman year at New York University, Mimi is happy to get away to her father’s remote Canadian cottage only to discover a stranger living there who has never heard of her or her father and who is convinced that Mimi is responsible for leaving sinister tokens around the property.
Ellen Richmond, Children’s Book Cellar
The Night Fairy, by Laura Amy Schlitz, illus. by Angela Barrett (Candlewick)
(a second recommendation for this book)
Finnikin of the Rock, by Melina Marchetta (Candlewick)
LOC description: Now on the cusp of manhood, Finnikin, who was a child when the royal family of Lumatere was brutally murdered and replaced by an imposter, reluctantly joins forces with an enigmatic young novice and fellow-exile, who claims that her dark dreams will lead them to a surviving royal child and a way to regain the throne of Lumatere.
Henry Aaron’s Dream, by Matt Tavares (Candlewick)
This is the tale of a kid from the segregated South who would become baseball’s home-run king, Hank Aaron.
Touch Blue, by Cynthia Lord (Scholastic)
LOC description: When the state of Maine threatens to shut down their island’s one-room schoolhouse because of dwindling enrollment, eleven-year-old Tess, a strong believer in luck, and her family take in a trumpet-playing foster child, to increase the school’s population.
Jan Hall, Partners Village Store
The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting (HarperTeen)
LOC description: High school junior Violet uses her uncanny ability to sense murderers and their victims to try to stop a serial killer who is terrorizing her town, and although her best friend and would-be boyfriend Jay promises to keep her safe, she becomes a target.

Vicky Umenowicz, Titcomb’s Bookshop

Before I Fall, by Lauren Oliver (HarperTeen) (Note to publisher: the Library of Congress lists this as If I Should Fall, so it doesn’t show up via title search.)
LOC description: After she dies in a car crash, teenage Samantha relives the day of her death over and over again until, on the seventh day, she finally discovers a way to save herself.

Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci, by Joseph D’Agnese, illus. by John O’Brien (Henry Holt)
(No LOC description yet, but the subtitle gives enough of a clue.)

Nancy Felton, Broadside Books

The Red Umbrella, by Christina Diaz Gonzalez (Knopf)
LOC description: In 1961 after Castro has come to power in Cuba, fourteen-year-old Lucia and her seven-year-old brother are sent to the United States when her parents, who are not in favor of the new regime, fear that the children will be taken away from them as others have been.
Numbers, by Rachel Ward (Scholastic/Chicken House)
LOC description: Fifteen-year-old Jem knows when she looks at someone the exact date they will die, so she avoids relationships and tries to keep out of the way, but when she meets a boy named Spider and they plan a day out together, they become more involved than either of them had planned.

Nomansland, by Lesley Hauge (Henry Holt)
LOC description: Living under a strict code of conduct in an all-female community 500 years after the earth’s destruction, a sensitive teenaged girl raised to be a hunter discovers forbidden relics from the Time Before.

Suzanna Hermans, Oblong Books & Music

Revolution, by Jennifer Donnelly (Delacorte)
No LOC description yet for this new novel by the award-winning author of A Northern Light, so ask Suzanna for more info!

Heist Society, by Ally Carter (Disney/Hyperion)
LOC description: A group of teenagers uses their combined talents to re-steal several priceless paintings and save fifteen-year-old Kat Bishop’s father, himself an international art thief, from a vengeful collector.

Fat Vampire: A Never-Coming-of-Age Story, by Adam Rex (Balzer + Bray)
(No LOC description yet, but don’t you love it already, just from the title and cover??!)
*****
Several booksellers also recommended adult trade books, too. Josie Leavitt, Flying Pig: Arcadia Falls by Carol Goodman. Betsey Detwiler, Buttonwood Books & Toys: The Man from Beijing by Henning Mankell, and Stuff by Randy Frost & Gail Steketee. Suzanna Hermans: The Passage by Justin Cronin, and The Singer’s Gun by Emily St. John Mandel. Katherine Osbourne, Kennebooks: The Passage, by Justin Cronin (Ballantine). Mimi Powell, Baker Books: Born Under a Million Shadows by Andrea Busfield (adult, but good for high schoolers), and Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson. Ellen Richmond, Children’s Book Cellar: The Gates by John Connolly. Emma Pouech, Brown Dog Books & Gifts: Clean Food by Terry Walters. Kenny Brechner, DDG Booksellers: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson.
What book(s) are you currently raving about? Please feel free to share in the comments field below.

Yesterday the NECBA (New England Children’s Booksellers Advisory Council) group met in Portland, Maine, and one of our main discussions focused on how to have summer reading programs that work. A successful summer reading program is one that drives business to your store while helping the children fulfill their requirement for summer reading. The strength of your program seems to be directly proportional to the relationships stores have built with schools. Below are some guidelines.
* Now is the time of year for bookstores to send letters to all their local schools inquiring about their summer reading lists. Often schools won’t have their lists finished yet, and this is a great opportunity to help out with a myriad of great ideas.
* Talk to the librarians and the English department about their summer reading lists. Assistance in building a list is usually welcome. Often, especially with public schools, the lists contain out-of-print books that just frustrate everyone because they’re so hard to get. Troubleshoot with them what currently available books can fill the OP gap. If a store can be helpful with building a list, the school might be more likely to send kids to your stores. Invite teachers, librarians and members of the selection committee to the store for a tour of some of the best selections for summer reading.
* Alison Morris, whose store, Wellesley Booksmith, has an extraordinarily good summer reading program, helps teachers by sending out a PDF file of all the books that are, or will be new, in paperback by the summer. We sometimes forget that not everyone is in publishing and knows when paperbacks are due to be released, so having this information readily available makes it easier for schools to choose books the students will be excited about reading. It also helps build loyalty among schools for helping them.
* Every bookstore should download all its local schools’ summer reading lists and print them out. Nothing is more frustrating to a forgetful customer seeking a stack of summer reading books than when the bookstore doesn’t have their reading list. The lists should be readily accessible for customers and easy for staffers to find.
* Some bookstores have a small selection of summer reading books on audio. This is very smart, especially around the middle of August, when there are deadlines to be met.
* Having a dedicated section just for summer reading makes for easy, stress-free shopping, especially if there are copies of all the schools’ summer reading lists right there.
* Don’t forget to talk to the AP teachers about their required reading. There are often a lot of books, especially if a student is taking more than one class, and it’s great to provide all the books in one shopping trip.
* Several stores offer an affiliate program on their websites, so books bought as part of Main City school will then benefit the school. The percentage varies depending on how the program is set up. If you don’t have an affiliate program, your store can run an in-store book fair for the summer reading books: for every summer reading book purchased, the school gets 10% back in store credit to buy books for the school. This is a win-win for all parties. Business comes to your store, and the school benefits.
All schools have summer reading lists, and if bookstores work together with them, we can play a vital part in helping to create and sell the list to kids. The other thing all the booksellers said at yesterday’s meeting was it was important to know the lengths of all the books on the lists, to better help kids choose books they stand the best chance of finishing.

In addition to the many lovely children’s books about going green, we’ve been seeing some extremely appealing books that are themselves green: that is, books made of mostly recycled materials, and printed with vegetable inks. These books sometimes have an environmental theme, which is timely and terrific, but we’re also excited about a recent influx of fiction board books and activity books. Publishers are showing a real commitment when they make “regular” titles green, and not just their ecology-related titles. Healthier inks, less waste with greener processing materials, practices and byproducts, and happy little hands holding these books = win-win-win!

We’ve been selling Priddy Books’ Let’s Go Green activity books like crazy. Kids like them, parents like them, they fly off the slatwall spinner display fast. It makes sense that the green angle is a strong selling point for consumable books, and for gifts (parents like to give earth-friendly, veggie-ink books to other families). And at $2.99 apiece, parents often buy all four books at once. (Note: the age indicator says 5+, but a customer reports that her 9-year-old loves them, as well.)

Some other favorites come from Innovative Kids’ Green Start line. Board books in regular and tiny sizes feel good in your hands. Their pleasing palettes — colors against kraft brown backgrounds — manage to be both bright and calm. The two “towers” of mini books make great baby-shower gifts; in addition to looking good, they have sweet, simple text that is fun to read aloud to babies and toddlers.(Tower at left; interior detail of one of the books, right)
Innovative Kids also has a set of green book-and-puzzle packages, as well as several floor puzzles, one of which sold to a customer who didn’t even notice the ‘green’ aspect but just loved the cute art.
We also like the board books aimed at the 3- to 5-year-olds, such as In the Garden.

Simon & Schuster has a new series called Little Green Books. The website describes the series thus: “Little Green Books^TM teaches kids to be eco-friendly. The books are made from recycled materials and cover topics such as the earth and recycling.” Inks aren’t mentioned, but I’d be surprised if such eco-focused books would have been made with petroleum-based inks. I like to think not.
The Little Green series also offers something I haven’t seen elsewhere: 100% recycled fleece cloth books, made from cotton and recycled Polartec fleece to make very snuggly bedtime books. (Above, at left, an example withLittle Panda.
Candlewick Press is taking a slightly different tack. Unlike the toasty-brown-colored books that signal recycled paper, their eco-friendly books may not announce themselves quite so obviously, but they exist! Some of their books have started to be produced using 100% post-consumer-waste covers and dustjackets and 30% post-consumer waste paper, including Ted Kooser and Barry Root’s Bag in the Wind (pictured at left), Timothee De Fombelle’s Toby Alone (both hardcover and paperback editions) and Tim Flannery’s We Are the Weather Makers: The History of Climate Change (also both hc and pb editions). Gigi Amateau’s novel, A Certain Strain of Peculiar, was printed on recycled paper with 30% post-consumer waste.
If you’re interested in learning more about green publishing, The Barefoot Press, a printing company, is a great resource. They’ve been in the green printing business since 1987, long before most printers were interested in pursuing more earth-friendly practices.
Finally, if you’re a consumer or business interested in replacing your traditional ink printer cartridges with soy-ink printer cartridges, they’re starting to become more readily available. Soyprint is one source.
We applaud all of these efforts. Please let us know about other truly eco-friendly publishing programs!

Today’s post is, quite simply, an ode to the loveliness of being able to read out of doors. It is not normally 80 degrees in April in Vermont during Easter weekend. This glorious gift of sun caused celebrations of many book lovers, young and old.
I had Saturday off, and amid the rapid-fire errand running, I stopped and noticed that City Hall Park was full of people, doing nothing but reading. Sitting on the steps to Town Hall, stretched out on the grass, young families on blankets, everyone was either reading or being read to. Young children sat next to their parents as they were read to. Bright eyes glinting in the sun eagerly listening to stories of pirates and in several cases, the Easter bunny.
Vermonters are a hardy bunch, of that there can be no dispute. But we’re also not foolish about the sun. Gifts of warm early spring weekends do not get lost on us. We go out and when we’re tired of cleaning the yard, we read under a tree, on a deck, at a bus stop, anywhere we can feel the sun we can be found with a book in our hands. There is a bus stop right at the front of the store, and I noticed that one person was reading when I left to do errands, and she was still there, an hour and a half later, when I returned. I know our bus system is slow, but it’s not that slow, I can only surmise she opted for staying right where she was, comfy on a wide perch, fully engrossed in her book.
I take a class at the University of Vermont and I saw the students enjoy the sun.  For every Frisbee-playing young man, and occasional woman, there were ten times as many students just sitting around reading. Yes, most of them were probably reading for classes, but I suspect that every book read on the lawn while feeling the warmth of the sun is more pleasurable than in the library.
There is a freedom that comes with being able to read outside after a long winter. It is quite simply the hope that warmer weather has finally arrived and I am filled with a simple joy: a book, a chair and a glass of water, my dogs cavorting in the yard, and  I’m almost as happy as I can get.

It’s that time of year again, folks: BEA looms and there are some exciting (and sobering) new educational sessions in 2010; we’ve got the inside scoop. Conference rooms fill quickly, so we thought it might be useful to help children’s booksellers get a jump on this year’s planning.
See you in NYC!
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Day of Education Offerings:
Serving the “Twoddler” Reader: Issues and Best Practices (Room 1E12)
The Twoddler is the largest untapped market in children’s books right now. Join our panel discussion of how this little person between the ages of 3-5 is really the decision-maker when it comes to which books the family will purchase. In this workshop you’ll get the tools you need to encourage these powerhouse pre-readers to target their tantrums toward expensive hardcovers. Rethinking eye-level placement: 24″-36″ is your new best friend. Effective marketing and containment strategies will be discussed, including the use of favorite costumed characters and bossy older siblings to keep these twoddlers in the section they belong.
The Nuts & Bolts of Children’s Bookselling: Roundtable Discussions (Room 1E12dada)
Join us for frank conversation about the day-to-day operational issues that we rarely get a chance to discuss in a conference environment. Learn the best ways to clean spit-up off dust jackets, lift ground gum out of carpets, and retrieve expensive sidelines that have been “stored” under bookcases by curious children. That noise you hear is a ripped book, so get up and make them pay for it. Tips for when story hour turns into a siege. Tips on what to say to the parent whose child has just wiped his nose on a copy of Knuffle Bunny. Also: the benefits of Goo-Gone and other safe substitutes for soap to use on dirty hands when parents refuse to take their kids to the bathroom. Learn time-trusted techniques for getting through the day when you just don’t like kids anymore. Bonus: why crying toddlers are bad for business.
Medium- and Large-Store Roundtable (Room 1E12 SW)
An interactive session for those who own or manage large stores. Sit at a table with seven other booksellers and listen to the loudest person dominate the discussion about why their store is better than yours.
Small- and Truly Wee-Store Roundtable (Room 1E12SWEscalator)
A moderated session geared for owner-managers in smaller stores. Why not take a two-hour break and hear tales of woe as you share or learn about the challenges of owning a small indie in today’s market? Discover why publicists chuckle when they receive your author request grids. Leave feeling lucky you still have keys to your store. Tissues available for purchase (via agency model), along with DVDs of Mighty Mouse and a custom adaptation of a Dr. Seuss classic, The 500 Hats of the Small Indie Owner.
It’s in the Payroll (Room 1E12 A)
This brief workshop will outline ways how all bookstores, from tiny to large, can offer less and less to their employees in an effort to remain open and compete in the marketplace. The role of barter for staff will be thoroughly discussed.
The Business of Accepting Credit and Debit Cards (Room 1E12 34DD)
In this session you’ll learn why taking credit and debit cards is important since no one ever has cash, even for that fifty-cent eraser. Learn more efficient swiping techniques and ways to get that slow second receipt to print out before the customer starts tapping her pen on the counter. Strategies for helping customers who just can’t remember their PIN are also handled in this session, as well as the top five alternatives to rolling your eyes during difficult transactions.
IndieBound Workshop
This educational session focuses on how you can train your customers that IndieBound actually refers to books and not bondage. After a tour of educational materials available for download, strategies for covering all your windows with banners and posters will be thoroughly examined.
IndieCommerce Demo (Room 1E12 Right Corner)
This session is aimed at bookstore owners and managers who don’t yet know what a website is.
It’s a Wrap: Video Workshop
Bring a Handycam and your sense of humor! Come prepared to learn how videos —which you will never actually make; I mean, come on, who are we kidding?—could, but won’t, boost sales at your store. Experience the thrill of discovering yet another new social networking opportunity to feel guilty about neglecting.
Succession Planning: Valuing Your Business (Room 1E12$)
What to do when you really want to get out of the game, but no one will buy your bookstore. How to cook the books so your brother-in-law thinks your business is a profit center. Ways to make long-time customers think that you can read all day long and succeed as an indie bookseller.
The New Reality: Alternative Business Models for Independent Bookstores (Room 1E12 Sidewalk)
This panel discussion focuses on job retraining for bookstore staff who are soon to be no longer working in independent bookstores. Listen as the panel speaks about the advent of the “paycheck” — a side benefit of working for another kind of business in the new reality. Featured extra: how to negotiate with your landlord to break your lease with the smallest  penalty.
Google Editions (Room 1E12 Loft)
This educational panel will show you yet another way electronic media and free downloads will cause your store to close in the next ten years. See how the “cloud” is one you’ll float away on after people stop reading actual books.
Association of Booksellers for Children (ABC) Events:
This year’s Good Ol’ Not-a-Dinner (GONAD) and Silent Auction — Continuing the tradition of surprising guests with an all-new, improved structure, this event gathers luminaries in the children’s book field: authors and illustrators who speak movingly, announce awards spiritedly, and then elbow one another out of the way to get at the silent auction pieces they’ve been coveting since before that first glass of wine loosed their crazy inner-Jerry-Springer-show-guest clipboard-hogging bid-monster alter egos. Bring checkbook and brass knuckles.
ABA/CBC Events:
Tea with Children’s and YA Authors: This ticketed event includes coffee and dessert at eight-person tables in a room filled with topnotch authors and artists and discussions moderated by fascinating, accomplished booksellers. A pre-session offering tips on table envy will be offered to those ready to fret that their author has won just one, not multiple, Newbery awards.
Speed-Dating with Children’s and YA Authors: This ever-popular, always oversubscribed event is a first-come, first-served morning session you won’t get into, so don’t bother. This is not a ploy to free up some spots for us. Surely not.
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That brings us to an end of our planning guide. What sessions are YOU looking forward to from the perspective of this fine April 1?

Last week I sent an e-mail out to a couple hundred local teachers and librarians (those in my e-mail address book), in which I told them about our store’s upcoming events (next week = Gary Paulsen!) and extolled the virtues of more than a few forthcoming books I thought might be of interest to them. Looking over the message later, it occurred to me that these recommendations might also be of interest to some of you as well, so I’ve pasted the text of the message below. I hope you’ll share your favorite recent discoveries (for any age!) in the comments field at the end.
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I’ve been reading and loving so many things of late, it’s hard to know where to start! Here’s a quick introduction to a few of my new favorites.
The hottest title on our shelves this week is The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary by Jeff Kinney (Abrams, available now, $14.95). Lest you dismiss it as just a big movie studio’s way to make more money, let me tell you that this is not just marketing fluff. This is a really, really, REALLY cool book that explains, in great detail, how the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie was made. Even kids who aren’t Wimpy Kid fans (are there any?) will enjoy reading this book, because it will tell them everything they’ve ever wanted to know about what happens on a movie set, how casting works, what costume makers think about, how much time is spent filming each day, how a script is written, how film is edited, and so on and so on and so on. This is a great non-fiction pick for reluctant readers!
Did you read The Squirrel’s Birthday and Other Parties by Toon Tellegen (Sterling, available now, $12.95) — one of my favorite all ages read-alouds of 2009? If so (or if not!) you’ll want to be sure to pick up a copy of Letters to Anyone and Everyone (Sterling, available now, $12.95), which features correspondences in letter form between the same charming woodland creatures as appeared in the first book. (Note that you can read these books in any order!) There are reportedly many more of these Toon Tellegen gems being imported from the Netherlands, which makes me more than a little bit happy. I can’t wait to read the next one!
Looking ahead a bit… Pam Munoz Ryan has a terrific new novel coming in April (Scholastic, $16.99) – it’s a fictionalized biography of poet Pablo Neruda called The Dreamer, and it is lush and lyrical and just. plain. great. Printed in green ink (what Neruda called the color of hope) with illustrations by Peter Sis, it is a must read for grades 4-8. I would not be surprised to see this book on a few big awards lists come next year. (I certainly think it deserves a place there!)
Another famous historical figure appears on the pages of A Nest for Celeste by Henry Cole (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen Books, available now, $16.99). This clever tale is narrated by a mouse who befriends the teenage assistant of John James Audubon while the two are collecting avian specimens in Louisiana. Lively pencil illustrations fill the pages of this novel and do much to enhance the story of a mouse with understandable doubts about Audubon’s practice of shooting birds in order to paint them. While topic of guns may not play well in all elementary school classrooms, I think this book is probably best appreciated by kids in grades 3-5.
Sarah Weeks fans will not be disappointed with her forthcoming novel As Simple as It Seems (HarperCollins, coming in June, $15.99), which stars two very memorable, very likable characters, each facing genetic hurdles that are all too common but not often seen in middle grade novels. One was born with fetal alcohol syndrome, the other is allergic to everything under the sun (yes, peanuts included).
Be prepared to fall in love (again) with Deborah Wiles’s wonderful ability to bring life to the page. Her new novel Countdown (Scholastic, $16.99, coming in May) is fresh, funny, and chock full o’ fuel for discussion. As if that’s not enough, it’s the first in a trilogy of books set in the 1960s that’s replete with visual artifacts from the time (newspaper photos, advertisements, media quotes, pop culture images) and the first in a trilogy, meaning we’ll get to spend time with these characters for longer than just the length of this one volume. This book is probably best suited to grades 4-8.
I think it would work be interesting to pair Countdown with Rosemary Wells and Dino Fernandez’s forthcoming My Havana: Memories of a Cuban Boyhood, illustrated by Peter Ferguson $17.99 (Candlewick Press, coming in August, $17.99, probably best suited to grades 2-5). One of the topics in Fallout is the Bay of Pigs invasion, and with that comes some discussion of life in Cuba under Fidel Castro. My Havana is about Fernandez’s childhood in the 1950s, in pre-Castro days, but it sets the stage perfectly for what will follow in the 1960s, where the story is picked up in Fallout. This book ties nicely also to immigration units and studies of architecture!
Middle school and high school teachers will want to get their hands on Sources of Light by Margaret McMullan ($16, available now, probably best for grades 6-10). Ever since I read her first novel, How I Found the Strong, I’ve been waiting for the world to wake up and discover her near-perfect prose. McMullan’s new novel about a girl discovering the art of photography and the nuanced emotions on both sides of the struggle for Civil Rights could (and ought to be) the book that finally makes that happen. I read this book in one sitting, and I know it’s going to stay with me (for which I’m grateful).
Another winner for mature readers is Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta (Candlewick Press, available now, $18.99). I fell madly in love with the cast of this deeply emotional fantasy when Melina herself sent me a copy almost a year and a half ago. I meant to blog about it then. And I meant to blog about it a month later. And I meant to blog about it soon after that. And now… Well, now the book is available here, and the word is out, and I am very late telling the world that this is a magical, memorable story that will not soon leave you. If you like your protagonists (both male and female) smart and strong, and you like your romance heart-stopping, this is the book for you.
As for new picture book favorites? Where to start?!
Last year at our event with Kevin Henkes, he gave us a sneak peek at his new picture book, My Garden (Greenwillow, available now, $17.99, all ages), and we all wished we could get our hands on our own copies right away! FINALLY that’s possible, and oh it was just so worth the wait! Once again Henkes proves beyond adept at capturing a child’s sensibilities and transferring them to the page. The imaginative garden that blooms on these pages will sow the seeds of creativity in any child who hears it.
While we’re on the topic of read-alouds, one of my new favorite new ones has to be Hip & Hop, Don’t Stop! by Jef Czekaj (Disney Hyperion, available now, $16.99, probably best appreciated by grades 1-5). A tortoise and the hare for the hip-hop generation, it’s clever, it’s hip, it’s funny, and your students will both laugh uproariously and award you double points for coolness when you share it with them.
Also great for riotous reading fun: Shark Vs. Train by Chris Barton ($16.99, coming in May, ages 2 – 102). Shark and Train compete at tasks as ridiculous (and outrageously funny!) as pie-eating and lemonade-selling. This is the book I’m giving to all the preschool through first grade boys in my life this year, and I’m confident that they will L-O-V-E it.
On the opposite end of the spectrum – the quiet end – is a lovely, lovely new book called The Quiet Book, written by Deborah Underwood and illustrated by Renata Liwska (Houghton Mifflin, available now, $12.95, all ages). Liwska’s soft, beautiful illustrations depict different animals experiencing various kinds of quiet (first one awake quiet, making a wish quiet, and so on). Kids will enjoy thinking about the other kinds of quiet they know too. It seems almost impossible not to sigh or coo when you read this one!
The poetry book you MUST have this season? Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse by Marilyn Singer, illustrated by Josée Masse (Dutton, available now, $16.99, grades 2-12). Marilyn Singer – the genius Marilyn Singer – has created a new form of poetry here, and the results are sparkling! Surprising! Read the poem on the left. Read the poem on the right. One is a “flipped” version of the other. (The last line of the left poem is the first line of the right poem, and so on.) Sometimes by inverting the poem, the narrator changes or the perspective shifts. Each time a familiar fairy tale or character is presented anew. You will marvel at the idea that anyone was capable of pulling off this trick!
More poetry greatness = Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature’s Survivors by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Beckie Prange (Houghton Mifflin, available now, $17, grades 2-8), The same dazzling duo created the Caldecott Honor-winning Song of the Waterboatman and Other Pond Poems, and Joyce Sidman is the author of this year’s Caldecott Honor book Red Sings from Treetops and This Is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness, which is one of our favorites. The ingenious endpapers alone make Ubiquitous a book worth owning!
My graduation gift pick: So Many Days by Alison McGhee, illustrated by Taeeun Yoo (Atheneum, available now, $15.99, all ages). Understated. Perfect. Not at all saccharine.
My pick for “Book on a Topic You *THINK* Will Be Boring But You Are In For a Surprise”: For Good Measure: The Ways We Say How Much, How Far, How Heavy, How Big, How Old by Ken Robbins (Roaring Brook Press, $17.99, available now, for all ages judging from the fact that my husband and I both read all 48 pages and found it fascinating.) Who knew the topic of measurement could be this interesting? I love the way history, social studies, math, and English lessons intersect here! More fun non-fiction with an unusual theme: Pop! The Invention of Bubble Gum by Megan McCarthy (Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books, coming in May, $15.99).
My pick for fantasy fans and language lovers: A Dignity of Dragons: Collective Nouns for Magical Beasts by Jacqueline K. Ogburn and illustrated by Nicoletta Ceccoli (Houghton Mifflin, $17, coming in May). A flurry of yeti. A splash of mermaids. A riddle of sphinx. What could be more clever?
Earth Day Must-Haves: Here Comes the Garbage Barge by Jonah Winter, illustrated by Red Nose Studio (Random House/Schwartz & Wade, available now, $17.99, grades 1-8); Poetrees by Douglas Florian (Simon & Schuster/Beach Lane Books, available now, $16.99, grades 1-8); and We Planted a Tree by Diane Muldrow, illustrated by Bob Staake (Golden Books, available now, $17.99, preK-3rd grade). Here Comes the Garbage Barge is non-fiction of the lively, memorable sort and WOW are the illustrations in this book cool! (Flip the dust jacket over to see how they were done, AND watch the uber-cool video on YouTube.) I have already heard reports of this being a great read-aloud with 5th graders. Poetrees is a grand-slam of a poetry book from the wildly witty Florian about what? Trees. Obviously. Again — a great read-aloud. Finally, We Planted a Tree is a great book about the positive impact that planting trees has on the lives of people all over the world. A complex topic is presented simply and clearly here, with bold, cheerful illustrations. Terrific!
A Great Mother’s Day Read: Little Rabbit and the Meanest Mother on Earth by Kate Klise and M. Sarah Klise (Harcourt, available now, $17). Over the top fun, with a big top twist!
A Great Father’s Day Gift: The Extraordinary Mark Twain (According to Susy) by Barbara Kerley, illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham (Scholastic, available now, $17.99, grades 2-8). A biography of Mark Twain and his daughter Suzy who wrote her own biography of her dad when she was just 14 years-old. Clever, funny, touching, and a great homage to the bond between father and child.
My New Favorite Beach-Themed Read: A Beach Tail by Karen Lynn Williams, illustrated by Floyd Cooper (Boyds Mills Press, available now, $17.95). I love the simplicity of this story and the fact that it’s so kid-centered. Dad takes Gregory to the beach, where Gregory draws a lion in the sand. “Don’t go in the water, and don’t leave Sandy,” says Dad. Dad snoozes under an umbrella, as Gregory draws Sandy’s tail — a tail that gets longer and longer and longer as Gregory absentmindedly draws his way down the beach and away from Dad. When he finally realizes that Dad is no longer in sight, Gregory follows Sandy’s tail and finds his way back. This is a light, fun story, illustrated with sandy looking artwork rendered perfectly by Floyd Cooper. Young readers will love the building suspense as Gregory strays further and further from familiar ground, and they’ll revel (secretly) in the joy of being able to stray where they want to, while still being tethered to home.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg! There are many, many more gems arriving now and coming in the next few months, including my husband‘s graphic novel of The Odyssey, coming from Candlewick Press in October! (Yes, I’m biased, but I think when you see it you’ll be really, really pleased.) So far 2010 is looking to be yet another great year for books!
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Okay, ShelfTalker readers, now it’s YOUR turn! What new (and/or forthcoming) books are you excited about? Please share your recent discoveries here!

It’s not just children who love the Easter Bunny. As  a bookseller, I’ve come to love the retail pop we get from this springtime holiday. The Easter holiday lends itself to bright displays of colorful books. After a long winter, an Easter that falls early in spring is just the lift we all needed. Many families in our area don’t give the kids Easter candy, rather they give stacks of books. And I love them for this. Sure, kids love candy, but frankly, I think getting a basket of books is a far better idea than massive amounts of sugar first thing in the morning. Once the candy’s gone, there’s nothing left but an unpleasant sugar crash. Books last forever and they can create traditions that mean more than one more candy egg.
Over the weekend the store was full of parents surreptitiously hiding — in some cases, actually hurling — books at me to hide and wrap before the kids found out. Wish lists get filled out with vigor, knowing that wishes might get granted long before birthdays roll around.
Setting up Easter displays involves the usual Easter books, but we like to add an actual basket or two filled with great book suggestions for all ages. The baskets are overflowing with yummy books for all ages, books, like Understood Betsy (a classic Vermont book), D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths, Mr.Popper’s Penguins, Hatchet, The Great Brain, George and Martha, oh, the list goes on.  It’s just so much fun.
There’s less retail frenzy than the Christmas season, and I enjoy this pace more. Folks seem more thoughtful about selecting books and this pleases me. I find Easter is a great time for sharing childhood favorites with the children in your life.
So, hop on down to your local indie, and  fill their baskets with books.

Every independent bookstore owner or manager must contend with self-published authors who want their book to be stocked by the store, and charitable groups seeking donations. There are different ways to handle these requests, and until now, I’ve always been put in the awkward position of dealing with each person right there, on the spot at the register, and that can get uncomfortable. Do I want to donate a gift card to the eighth-grade field hockey team? Do I want to carry three copies of a self-published book about a farmer in Maine?
With the help of bookselling friendships fostered at Winter Institute 5 and through NECBA, my local children’s bookselling trade association, I’ve been given great tools to help me with these two tough situations.
It sounds simple, but a good consignment form is a gift. It allows me to accept most self-published books on consignment in a very professional manner. My form (adapted from the Bookloft in Great Barrington, MA) is simple and clearly states what the terms of sale are: 40% and after six months, the book will be returned to the author. The form makes it easier for me to be organized. Often self-published authors are learning about the business, and the form saves me from having to explain, repeatedly, how the self-published author/bookstore relationship works. They get a copy for their files, and we keep a copy. Everyone is on the same page, so there can be no surprises when it’s time to reconcile accounts or send the books back.
The consignment form, with its time limit, allows me to say yes far more often than I did in the past. Also, for me, who can be filing challenged, this works really well.  One universal form, one file folder for everything in chronological order — this makes my life a lot easier. And having all the author’s info in one place makes re-stocking the books a breeze. So this  can be a win-win for everyone.
The donation request form (adapted from Saturn Booksellers, in Gaylord, MI) is pure genius. This form allows my staff to be pro-active with donation seekers. So, rather than just take a message, they can give them the form, or better yet, they can email the donation seeker the form. The donation request form is direct. It states very simply, that we cannot give to everyone as much as we’d like to, but we want to be fair, so please answer some questions and we’ll make a decision within two weeks.
What’s great about this form is it asks the usual questions about the organization/event: how many people are expected to attend, how is this event related to literacy, how will it be promoted, etc. Then there are the questions that all booksellers want to ask of organizations but find it hard to do when there’s someone standing at the register asking for something: how many times a month do you or staff from your organization shop at the store?
This one question makes it clear that shopping local and community support are a two-way street. I’ve emailed this form to many folks since I started using it and I’ve gotten some very different answers. Some are really honest,”No one has shopped at your store because you’re an hour away from us.” That realization had them withdraw their request.  “I’ve driven by a hundred times, but will now make a effort to stop,” and they did.
Getting all the information in one tidy page has made it easier for me to make informed decisions about charitable giving. Every two weeks we look at the forms, look at our charitable giving budget, and triage what we’re able to do. Obviously, events that benefit children’s literacy within my local region get priority and then we’ll work our way down the list. The donation form allows me to be better at business and sometimes, that means saying no, and that’s never an easy thing. But the process of filling out the form can make an organization realize that we’re not a good fit for them and they should ask closer to home, as was the case above.
So, don’t despair if your local bookstore asks you to fill out either a consignment or donation request form: it’s actually a great way to yes.

For anyone younger than 55, Sid Fleischman is an icon, his books part of the canon of the finest in American children’s storytelling. His marvelous stories are notable for their immense child appeal and signature combination of high adventure, mischievous tall-tale-telling, and loads of humor — all written without a single unnecessary word. What’s not to love?!
Sid Fleischman’s very name conjures up magicians, pirates, ghosts, mysteries, journeys, bandits, kidnappings, treasures, horses, mistaken identity, long-lost relatives, sudden fortunes. I remember reading Mr. Mysterious & Company when I was around eight years old. I was immediately charmed; my father, like Mr. Fleischman and his traveling show maestro, was a magician by hobby, so I felt a special connection to the young apprentice. From then on, I eagerly read every new chapter book he wrote. I loved the vivid characters and towns and countrysides and rivers and situations he created. Kids were always on the move in his books, independent and resourceful even when they were lost or outnumbered. Rascals and scalawags abounded, but they were often more ridiculous than villainous, or at least got very satisfying just deserts. There was a lightness of spirit, a joi d’esprit, about his writing that is sometimes missing from adventure stories written today.
He was also a master of that most important of genres: the young chapter book, for ages 7-10 (including and especially boys). His books are ones that make me wish for a new approach to backlist promotion; they are a hit with all the kids who can find them, but, like many older series, without a new-book promotion budget, they can be overlooked or forgotten and drift out of print. That’s already happened to a couple of my very favorites (the last three book covers pictured below), and I’m hoping that there’s some magic in the power of an entire children’s book community all thinking about his amazing literary legacy that will breathe new life into all of his titles. There are so many in print, with a few more to come; I’d like to invite all booksellers, teachers, and librarians to make a special effort to hand Sid Fleischman titles to kids and ignite a whole new generation of fans. Let’s make April Sid Fleischman month!
His was a literature of pluck and sass and resilience; he made living itself seem like a grand adventure. What a fine gift to leave to children! Mr. Sid Fleischman, we salute you.
Two links of interest:
Lisa Yee posted this on her blog: A fond farewell to a lovely friend . . .  As many of you have probably already heard, Sid Fleischman has died. He was a great influence on my career. Here’s a tribute I wrote in his honor. The link also includes his obituary from the SCBWI website. http://lisayee.livejournal.com/130654.html
Finally, Garrison Keillor celebrated Sid Fleischman in his birthday portion of The Writer’s Almanac (scroll down; SF is the third birthday).
Those of you with memories to share, please feel free to share comments about this wonderful author who, by all accounts, was also a most magical friend.