Monthly Archives: October 2009

Halloween Treats


Elizabeth Bluemle - October 15, 2009

Halloween is almost upon us, and we thought we’d share with you several new titles and a few perennial favorites to get kids of all ages in the mood for the spooky holiday that comes with candy.

To start things off, here’s a great book to help families set the scene for creative Halloween festivities: Extreme Halloween: The Ultimate Guide to Making Halloween Scary Again, by Tom Nardone (Perigee, $14.95 ISBN 039953525X). Nardone, who brought us Extreme Pumpkins II last year, loves Halloween like Roseanne and Dan Connor of TV fame—the more gleefully grisly, the better. Lots of great projects for in and outside the house, from party tips and treats to full-blown haunted houses. Why not have an alligator in the leaf pile? Want to bury your friends alive? How about a toilet bowl filled with candy? And can anyone resist a cake that bleeds? Ewww! FUN.


On the opposite end of the scare spectrum is the board book for little kids by veteran toddler pleaser Anne Rockwell. Pumpkin Day, Pumpkin Night, illustrated by Megan Halsey (Walker, $6.99 ISBN 080279405X) follows a child through the gentle joy of finding the perfect pumpkin at a farmer’s market, preparing it, and enjoying the immense satisfaction of setting it out, carved and lit, on a fall night. Sweet and not scary.

Another cute book that offers Halloween flavor without the fright is Andrea Beaty and Pascal Lemaitre’s new title, Hush, Baby Ghostling (S&S/McElderry, $14.99 ISBN 1416925457) I’m a sucker for books that turn familiar ideas upside down*, and this one is charming. The little ghost, wiped out after a long night of haunting, is afraid to go to sleep, so Mama settles him in by promising to keep the dark on and soothing him with happy thoughts—of monsters, bats, and other nighttime creatures. A sweet bedtime story with a little twist. (*Another goodie is the 1997 title No Such Thing by Jackie French Koller and Betsy Lewin (Boyds Mills Press, $15.95 ISBN 1563974908), in which a boy is afraid of monsters, and a monster is afraid of boys. And then—they meet.)

Can You Make a Scary Face? Well, can you? Because kids will want you to, right along with them, when you read this at story hour. They will also wiggle, wriggle, puff, and dance. Author/artist Jan Thompson introduces a bossy ladybug who starts things off by telling readers to STAND UP ("No. I changed my mind. SIT DOWN. No, STAND UP!") She exhorts them to try getting rid of a bug by blowing it away. Each command leads to the need for another command, since the bug is not so easily gotten rid of. The story is hilarious to small children — another good choice for youngsters who want a cheery introduction to the world of "scary." (S&S/Beach Lane, $12.99 ISBN 1416985816)

Can clever mice outwit a cat (named Scary Cat) who invites himself to a mouse Halloween feast? Lois Ehlert’s Boo to You! poses this question in rich, detailed collages made from vegetables and paper and twine, among other materials. (S&S/Beach Lane, $17.99 ISBN 1416986251) I think you can guess the answer: they do indeed find a way to drive away the cat, and I have to admit, I felt a little sorry for the lonely feline carnivore. But the art is the real star of this book, and teachers will like the informative end pages with photos of fall fruits and vegetables, a recipe for roasted pumpkin seeds (simple and tasty), and info about jack o’lanterns.

Margie Palatini is always fun to read aloud, and this punny tale about a fizzled fairy godmother who finds herself out of work is no exception. Gone with the Wand: A Fairy’s Tale (illustrated by Brian Ajhar, Orchard, $16.99 ISBN 0439727685) is a witchy story that’s really about taking care of kids who need tucking in. For a titch more Halloween sensibility, Palatini’s Piggie Pie! is a perennial Flying Pig favorite. This one is about a witch in search of plump piggies for her next pie, but the alert swine are on to her in time, and dress up as cows, ducks, chickens, and even the farmer, in order to fool her. When a hungry wolf heads to the farm seeking the same meal, he and the foiled witch meet up, with a surprise ending. My cousin’s kids must have made me read it to them 150 times over the course of about three nights one summer—always the sign of a crowd pleaser. (Illustrated by Howard Fine, Clarion, $6.95 ISBN 0395866189)

Another older title, and one of my all-time favorite Halloween picture books, is Hogula: Dread Pig of Night, by Jean Gralley (ages 4-8). For some reason, I can’t get enough of Hogula, the vampire pig who "snorts" people into a snooze, and Elvis Ann, a girl who can’t be snorted, and who wields her own wicked talent, unleashing her evil "kissyface" upon the innocent. Can Elvis Ann and Hogula become friends? Only if they agree not to snort or kissyface each other. Another top-notch read-aloud for groups of kids. Or for one special kid at bedtime. (Ages 4-8) (Holt/Owlet, $6.95 ISBN 0805071644)

Lovely, lovely art and poetic text combine to make Only a Witch Can Fly by Alison McGhee, illustrated by Taeeun Yooone, one of this year’s standout Halloween stories. (Feiwel & Friends, $16.99 ISBN 0312375034) On Halloween night, a little girl comes home after trick-or-treating, but instead of settling into bed, she sneaks outside, yearning to fly up to the great big moon. As her little brother and some appropriately Halloween-y animals (bat, cat, owl) watch, she tries and fails, picks herself up and tries again. Then, in a breathtaking moment, she rises into the air. This is a quiet book about pursuing one’s dreams. "Hold tight to your broom / and float past the stars, / and turn to the heavens and soar." For an added treat, McGhee, always a lyrical writer, has sneaked the text into a sestina. Note about the art: the book cover is dramatic, but even it doesn’t do justice to the quiet gorgeousness of the linoleum-block art inside. (Ages 4-8)
 

Taking a turn from the lyrical to the loud, Horrid Henry and the Scary Sitter has a very funny Halloween story among its four sections. Halloween should be Henry’s best day of the year: you get to play tricks on people ALL DAY LONG, scot-free, dress up as something really repellent, plus, there’s free candy. But when Henry’s parents expect him to drag along his little brother in a humilatingly cute costume, Henry has other plans. Author Francesca Simon and illustrator Tony Ross clearly take enormous pleasure in their horrid hero and his terrible behavior—and so do kids ages 5-8. (Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky, $4.99 ISBN 1402
21
7811)

Two more middle-grade favorites that have been around for a while: The Witch Family by Eleanor Estes and Edward Ardizzone (what a team!) (Houghton Mifflin, $6.99, ISBN 015202610X) This is a wonderful, imaginative younger novel, suited especially for girls who love to draw and make up stories. Amy and Clarissa, best friends, have created a whole world on drawing paper, in which a terrible old witch is banished (or "banquished," as one of the girls likes to say) to live on the top of a glass hill and allowed out only once a year to haunt people on Halloween night. The old witch gets lonely, so she sends Malachi, a spelling bumblebee, down the hill to ask Amy and Clarissa to send her some company. The girls create a little witch family for her, consisting of a witch their own age as well as a "teeny witchie" baby. Issues of friendship, bullying, and teasing are addressed, in addition to questions of creating a fair and just world when you’re the ones holding the creative power (in this case, drawing pencils). There’s just something magical about this book, and it’s very Halloween-y. (Ages 7-10)

For fourth- and fifth-graders, it’s hard to do better for a read-aloud than to start with the first chapter of Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth by E.L. Konigsburg. This book won the Newbery Honor in the same year her From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler won the gold medal. Elizabeth is new to town and meets a mysterious girl in her class who says she is a witch. She does read Macbeth and knows how to write spells in old-fashioned script (the kind where s’s look like f’s), and Elizabeth is intrigued enough to agree to become Jennifer’s apprentice. They start with small spells, which Jennifer insists have worked. When they acquire a toad, ostensibly for a bigger spell, Elizabeth finds herself torn between loyalty to her friend and a burgeoning sense that what they’re playing at might get a little out of control. The first chapter is light and intriguing, and includes a school Halloween parade; a very good one to read to classes the week before the holiday. (Aladdin, $5.99 ISBN 1416933964)

Two quickies-but-goodies here. We’re always looking for scary short stories to read aloud at Halloween. Having gone through Alvin Schwartz’s worthy Scary Stories canon many times, it’s nice to have a new addition to the mix in More Bones: Scary Stories from Around the World (by Arielle North Olson and Howard Schwartz — hmm, any relation to Alvin? — illustrated by E.M. Gist; Puffin, $6.99 ISBN 0142414255) Great for ages 8-12. And who can resist Half-Minute Horrors, featuring more than 70 short-short stories by authors and artists including Neil Gaiman, Lemony Snicket, Holly Black, Margaret Atwood, Gregory Maguire, Jon Scieszka, Libba Bray, Jerry Spinelli, Francine Prose, Arthur Slade, Lauren Myracle, M.T. Anderson, Bret Helquist, Brian Selznick, Chris Raschka and many, many others. (HarperCollins, $12.99. ISBN: 0061833797) Just look at its cover over there on the right. Eek!

Fabulous.

For your teen and adult customers:
Gris Grimly, master of dark art, is the ultimate Halloween illustrator, and Edgar Allan Poe, with his eery, haunting stories, is the ultimate Halloween author. Happily, they’ve been paired again to bring you Edgar Allen Poe’s Tales of Death and Dementia (Atheneum, $18.99. ISBN: 1416950257) This follow-up to Edgar Allen Poe’s Tales of Mystery and Madness offers a new set of classics, newly illustrated by Grimly. The collection includes the inimitable, famous "The Tell-Tale Heart," as well as the less familiar "The Oblong Box," "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar," and "The System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether." Sophisticated Halloween fare for teens and adults. And no Halloween list would be complete without Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, a mesmerizing book about justice and tolerance and integrity, which just happens to have one of the most memorable Halloween night scenes in all of literature. Boo Radley, anyone? (Harper Perennial, $12.95. ISBN: 0060935464)

***

Though this post is long, the list of books just scratches the surface. What are your favorite literary Halloween treats?

Bookstore Dreams


Elizabeth Bluemle - October 14, 2009

“It’s always been a dream of mine to open a bookstore.” We must hear this two or three times a week, sweetly confessed by starry-eyed book lovers. I don’t have the heart to tell them that, when you do have a bookstore, your dreams — the real ones, the nightly ones — change just a tad.

Here are a few recurring highlights from actual dreams Josie and I have had over the years:

The store is full of customers, you’re alone, and the cash register and POS system aren’t working.

The sections have all been moved; in fact, they’re changing while you look at them.

Your store is suddenly outside.

You’ve had to move your store from a great location to a lousy one, and grieve.

You need to get to work and can’t find your store in the strange city you suddenly find yourself in.

You’re trying to get to work, but the elevator you step into goes sideways, at a fast clip, in the opposite direction of where you need to be.

Your store layout has become a honeycomb of little rooms with organization that makes no sense and bad lighting.

You discover a whole sales floor’s worth of overstock you have to deal with.

The sales meeting you’re in lasts a full week.

There’s an angry customer at the counter demanding the book he’s been waiting for — for eight months.

You’ve got a huge line at the register and you’ve forgotten how to type.

You have all new staff members you don’t know, and they just stand around chatting while customers stream by, needing help.

Suddenly you can’t remember a single Dr. Seuss title.

You’ve just recommended a bunch of perfect books to a teen, only to find you’re out of all of them. (Oh wait, that wasn’t a dream. That just happened on Friday.)

***

After thirteen years in this changeable business, when people tell me “I’d like to open a bookstore when I retire,” I just smile and say, “Good luck with that. It’s a beautiful dream.”

THE STARS SO FAR (updated October 2009)


Elizabeth Bluemle - October 13, 2009

Here you go, folks: the updated list of 2009 starred reviews for children’s books. And, for those who would like the list with book covers and more information, the 2009 Stars Library.

I confess I feel a little mixed about this big project of presenting the starred-review titles, and I’ll tell you why. On the one hand, it’s a huge help as I think about the books I want to include in my annual (print) newsletter, Pig-Tales—sixteen colorful pages of our favorite books of the year for children and adults. With the starred list below, I can scan to make sure I’m not forgetting something I really loved back in April but slipped my memory by October. I can also note titles I might have missed altogether.

On the other hand, there’s a danger to ‘starry’ thinking. I hope we are aware enough not to slip into prioritizing stars past a certain point, but having this list in front of me is a temptation. The list of titles is so long that one is in danger of skimming over the single stars, not to mention the myriad of fantastic books that haven’t received any starred reviews. To take just two examples from years past, we’ve sold countless copies of the hilarious crowd-pleasing dog tribute, Once I Ate a Pie by Patricia MacLachlan et al., and the gorgeous, perfect-to-read-aloud, every-teacher-should-know-about 17 Kings and 42 Elephants by Margaret Mahy and Patricia MacCarthy. As far as I can tell, neither received a starred review. (This information is harder to glean than one might imagine, even on distributor databases.) Are those kinds of books lost in the shuffle if we use starred-review lists as primary references for ordering?

Delighted readers are all the "starred review" a book really needs, and I hate to think that the list below might be complicit in a bookseller or librarian passing over worthy, wonderful titles that just didn’t happen to fit a reviewer’s or editor’s criteria of what is deserving of a star for that issue of that particular review magazine. Reviews are extremely helpful for busy booksellers, librarians, and teachers — but there is no substitute for actually reading a book, or sharing it with children, oneself.

So — with all that in mind, here are the 2009 starred-review titles as of today. Starred reviews for 2009 titles come from 2008-2009 reviews in Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, The Horn Book, Booklist, The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, and Kirkus Reviews.

Any mistakes are mine; collating all of these is quite a project, and definitely subject to human error. Authors and publishers, please let me know if I’ve missed any.

***** 5 STARS *****

CHARLES AND EMMA: THE DARWINS’ LEAP OF FAITH. Deborah Holt Heiligman. (ISBN 978-0805087215. $18.95. YA.)

CLAUDETTE COLVIN: TWICE TOWARD JUSTICE. Phillip Hoose. (Melanie Kroupa/FSG. ISBN 978-0374313227. $19.95. MG/YA.)

FIRE. Kristin Cashore. (Dial. $17.99. ISBN 978-0803734616. YA.)

THE LION & THE MOUSE. Jerry Pinkney. (Little, Brown. $16.99. ISBN 978-0316013567. PreS-Grade 1.)

MARCELO IN THE REAL WORLD. Francisco X Stork. (Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic. $17.99. ISBN 978-0545054744. YA.)

MARCHING FOR FREEDOM: WALK TOGETHER, CHILDREN, AND DON’T YOU GROW WEARY. Elizabeth Partridge. (Viking. $19.99. ISBN 978-0670011896)

MOONSHOT: THE FLIGHT OF APOLLO 11. Brian Floca. (Richard Jackson/Atheneum. ISBN 978-1416950462. $17.99. Grades 2-5.)

SEASON OF GIFTS, A. Richard Peck. (Dial. $16.99. ISBN 978-080373082. MG.)

TALES FROM OUTER SUBURBIA. Shaun Tan. (Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic. $19.99. ISBN 978-0545055871. YA.)

WHEN YOU REACH ME. Rebecca Stead. (Wendy Lamb/Random House. $15.99. ISBN 978-0385737425. MG.)

WINTERGIRLS. Laurie Halse Anderson. (Viking, $17.99. ISBN 978-0670011100. YA.)

**** 4 STARS ****

ALL THE WORLD. Liz Garton Scanlon. Illustrated by Marla Frazee. (Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster. $17.99. ISBN 978-1416985808. Ages 4-7.)

BUTTON UP! WRINKLED RHYMES. Alice Schertle. Illustrated by Petra Mathers. (Harcourt. $16. ISBN 978-0152050504. PreS-Grade 2.)

CATCHING FIRE. Suzanne Collins. (Scholastic. $17.99. ISBN 978-0-439023498. MG/YA.)

DINOTHESAURUS: PREHISTORIC POEMS AND PAINTINGS; written and illus. by Douglas Florian. (Simon & Schuster. $17.99. ISBN 978-1416979784. Grades 2-5.)

THE ETERNAL SMILE. Gene Luen Yang. Illustrated by Derek Kirk Kim. (Roaring Brook/First Second. $16.95. ISBN 978-1596431560. YA.)

THE EVOLUTION OF CALPURNIA TATE. Jacqueline Kelly. (Holt. $16.95. ISBN 978-0805088410. MG.)

THE FROG SCIENTIST. Pamela S. Turner. Illustrated with photos by Andy Comins. (Houghton. $18. ISBN 978-0618717163)

HEROES OF THE VALLEY. Jonathan Stroud. (Disney-Hyperion. $17.99. ISBN 978-1423109662. MG/YA.)

HOOK. Ed Young. (Neal Porter/Roaring Brook. $17.95. ISBN 978-1596433632. PreS-Grade 1.)

IF I STAY. Gayle Forman. (Dutton. $16.99. ISBN 978-0525421030. YA.)

THE LOST CONSPIRACY. Frances Hardinge. (HarperCollins. $16.99. ISBN 978-0060880415. Grades 6-10.)

RED SINGS FROM TREETOPS: A YEAR IN COLORS. Joyce Sidman. Illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski. (Houghton. $16.00. ISBN 978-0547014944. Ages 5-8.)

THE SNOW DAY. Komako Sakai. (Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic. $16.99. ISBN 978-0545013215. Ages 3-5.)

THE STORM IN THE BARN. Matt Phelan. (Candlewick. $24.99. ISBN 978-0763636180)

THUNDER-BOOMER! Shutta Crum. Illustrated by Carol Thompson. (Clarion. $16. ISBN 978-0618618651.Ages 4-7.)

*** 3 STARS ***

ALL THE BROKEN PIECES. Ann E. Burg. (Scholastic. $16.99. ISBN 978-054508092. YA.)

ALMOST ASTRONAUTS: 13 WOMEN WHO DARED TO DREAM. Tanya Lee Stone. (Candlewick. $24.99. ISBN 978-0763636111. Grades 5-8.)

ASHLEY BRYAN: WORDS TO MY LIFE’S SONG. Ashley Bryan. Photos by Bill McGuinness. (Atheneum/Simon & Schuster. $18.99. ISBN 978-141690541. Ages 8-12.)

BIRDS. Kevin Henkes. Illustrated by Laura Dronzek. (Greenwillow. $17.99. ISBN 978-0061363047. Ages 3-5.)

BUBBLE TROUBLE. Margaret Mahy. Illustrated by Polly Dunbar. (Clarion. $16. ISBN 978-0547074214. Ages 3-7.)

BURN MY HEART. Beverley Naidoo. (HarperCollins/Amistad. $15.99. ISBN 978-0061432972. MG.)

THE CARBON DIARIES 2015. Saci Lloyd. (Holiday House. $17.95. 978-0823421909. Grades 9-12.)

CHICKEN LITTLE. Rebecca Emberley and Ed Emberley. (Neal Porter/Roaring Brook. $16.95. ISBN 978-1596434646. PreS-K.)

CORETTA SCOTT. Ntozake Shange. Illustrated by Kadir Nelson. (Harper/Tegen/Amistad. $17.99. ISBN 978-006125364. Ages 4-9.)

CREATURE OF THE NIGHT. Kate Thompson. (Roaring Brook. $17.95. ISBN 978-1596435117. Grades 9-12)

CROSSING STONES. Helen Frost. (FSG. $16.99. ISBN 978-0374316532)

DARWIN. Alice B. McGinty. Illustrated by Mary Azarian. (Houghton Mifflin. $18. ISBN 978-0618995318. Grades 1-4)

THE DAY-GLO BROTHERS: THE TRUE STORY OF BOB AND JOE SWITZER’S BRIGHT IDEAS AND BRAND-NEW COLORS. Chris Barton. Illustrated by Tony Persiani. (Charlesbridge. $18.95. ISBN 978-157091673. Ages 8-12.)

THE DEMON’S LEXICON. Sarah Rees Brennan. (Margaret K. McElderry/Simon & Schuster. $17.99. ISBN 978-1416963790. YA.)

DINOTRUX. Chris Gall. (Little, Brown. $16.99. ISBN 978-031602777. Ages 4-8.)

THE DUNDERHEADS. Paul Fleischman. Illustrated by David Roberts. (Candlewick. $16.99. ISBN 978-0763624989. Ages 6-10.)

ELEANOR, QUIET NO MORE. Doreen R
ap
paport. Illustrated by Gary Kelley. (Disney-Hyperion. $16.99. ISBN 978-0786851416. Grades 2-5.)

A FOOT IN THE MOUTH: POEMS TO SPEAK, SING, AND SHOUT. ed. by Paul B. Janeczko, illus. by Chris Raschka. (Candlewick. $17.99. ISBN 978-0763606633. Ages 8-12.)

GERTRUDE IS GERTRUDE IS GERTRUDE IS GERTRUDE. Jonah Winter. Illustrated by Calef Brown. (S&S/Atheneum. $16.99. ISBN 978-1416940883. Ages 4-10.)

HIGHER! HIGHER! Leslie Patricelli. (Candlewick. $15.99. ISBN 978-0763632410. Preschool.)

LEVIATHAN. Scott Westerfeld. Illustrated by Keith Thompson. (Simon Pulse, $19.99. ISBN: 978-1416971733)

LIAR. Justine Larbalestier. (Bloomsbury. $16.99. ISBN 978-1599903057)

LITTLE CHICK. Amy Hest. Illustrated by Anita Jeram. (Candlewick. $17.99. ISBN 978-0-763628901. Ages 3-6.)

THE MAGICIAN’S ELEPHANT. Kate DiCamillo. Illustrated by Yoko Tanaka. (Candlewick. $16.99. ISBN 978-0763644109. Grades 4-7.)

MISSION CONTROL, THIS IS APOLLO: THE STORY OF THE FIRST VOYAGES TO THE MOON. Andrew Chaikin and Victoria Kohl. Illustrated by Alan Bean. (Viking. $23.99. ISBN 978-0670011568. Grades 5-8.)

MY PEOPLE. Langston Hughes. Photos by Charles R. Smith, Jr. (Atheneum/Ginee Seo. $17.99. ISBN 978-1416935407. Ages 4-8.)

THE NEGRO SPEAKS OF RIVERS. Langston Hughes. Illus. by E.B. Lewis. (Disney-Jump at the Sun. $16.99. ISBN 978-0786818679. Ages 4-8.)

NORTH OF BEAUTIFUL. Justina Chen Headley. (Little, Brown. $16.99. ISBN 978-0316025058. YA.)

ORANGUTAN TONGS: POEMS TO TANGLE YOUR TONGUE. Jon Agee. (Disney-Hyperion. $16.99. ISBN 978-1423103158. Ages 4-8.)

PHARAOH’S BOAT. David Weitzman. (Houghton Mifflin. $17. ISBN 9780547053417. Grades 4-7.)

REDWOODS. Jason Chin. (Neal Porter/Roaring Brook. $16.95. ISBN 978-1596434301. PreS-Grade 3.)

RIOT. Walter Dean Myers. (Egmont USA. $16.99. ISBN 978-1606840009)

ROBOT ZOT! Jon Scieszka. Illustrated by David Shannon. (S&S. $17.99. ISBN 978-1416963944)

A SAVAGE THUNDER: ANTIETAM AND THE BLOODY ROAD TO FREEDOM. Jim Murphy. (Margaret K. McElderry/Simon & Schuster. $17.99. ISBN 978-0689876332. Grades 6-10.)

THE SMALL ADVENTURE OF POPEYE AND ELVIS. Barbara O’Connor. (FSG. $16.99. ISBN 978-0374370558)

SOLACE OF THE ROAD. Siobhan Dowd. (Random/David Fickling Bks. $17.99. ISBN 978-0375849718)

SWEETHEARTS OF RHYTHM: THE STORY OF THE GREATEST ALL-GIRL SWING BAND IN THE WORLD. Marilyn Nelson. Illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. (Dial. $21.99. ISBN 978-0803731875)

TSUNAMI! Kimiko Kajikawa. Illus. by Ed Young. (Philomel. $16.99. ISBN 978-0399250064. Grades K-3.)

THE VAST FIELDS OF ORDINARY. Nick Burd. (Dial. $16.99. ISBN 97800803733404. Grades 9-12)

WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON. Grace Lin. (Little, Brown. $16.99. ISBN 978-0316114271. Ages 8-12.)

WHIFF OF PINE, A HINT OF SKUNK, A: A FOREST OF POEMS. Deborah Ruddell. Illustrated by Joan Rankin. (McElderry/Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1416942115. $16.99. Gr. 3-5.)

WRITTEN IN BONE: BURIED LIVES OF JAMESTOWN AND COLONIAL MARYLAND. Sally M. Walker. (Carolrhoda. $22.95. ISBN 978-0822571353. MG/YA.)

YEARS OF DUST: THE STORY OF THE DUST BOWL. Albert Marrin. (Dutton. $22.99. ISBN 978-0525420774. Grades 5-8.)

YOU NEVER HEARD OF SANDY KOUFAX?! Jonah Winter. Illustrated by André Carrilho. (Schwartz & Wade/Random House. $17.99. ISBN 978-0375837388)

YUMMY: EIGHT FAVORITE FAIRY TALES. Lucy Cousins. (Candlewick. $18.99. ISBN 978-076364474)

** 2 STARS **

11 BIRTHDAYS. Wendy Mass. (Scholastic. $16.99. ISBN 978-0545052399)

14 COWS FOR AMERICA. Carmen Agra, with Wilson Kimeli Naiyomah. Illustrated by Thomas Gonzalez. (Peachtree. $17.95. ISBN 978-1561454907)

1968. Michael T. Kaufman. (Roaring Brook/Flash Point. $22.95. ISBN 978-1596434288)

ADVENTURES IN CARTOONING: HOW TO TURN YOUR DOODLES INTO COMICS. James Sturm and Andrew Arnold et al. (Roaring Brook/First Second. $12.95. ISBN 978-1596433694)

AFRICAN ACROSTICS: A WORD IN EDGEWAYS. Poems by Avis Harley. Illustrated with photos by Deborah Noyes. (Candlewick. $17.99. ISBN 978-0763636210)

AFTER THE MOMENT. Garret Freymann-Weyr. (Houghton. $16. ISBN 978-0618605729)

AL CAPONE SHINES MY SHOES. Gennifer Choldenko. (Dial. $17.99. 978-0803734609)

ALBERT EINSTEIN. Kathleen Krull. Illustrated by Boris Kulikov. (Giants of Science Series) (Viking. $15.99. ISBN 978-0670063321)

ALL GOD’S CRITTERS. Bill Staines. Illustrated by Kadir Nelson. (Simon & Schuster. $16.99. ISBN 978-0689869594)

ALL IN A DAY. Cynthia Rylant. Illustrated by Nikki McClure. (Abrams. $17.95. ISBN 978-0810983212)

ALL OF BABY, NOSE TO TOES. Victoria Adler. Illustrated by Hiroe Nakata. (Dial. $14.99. ISBN 978-0803732179)

ALONG FOR THE RIDE. Sarah Dessen. (Viking. $19.99. ISBN 978-0670011940)

ANNE FRANK. Menno Metselaar & Ruud Van der Rol. Translated by Arnold J Pomerans. (Flash Point. hardcover, $19.99. ISBN 978-1596435469. paperback, $12.99. ISBN 978-1596435476)

ANYTHING BUT TYPICAL. Nora Raleigh Baskin. (Simon & Schuster. $15.99. ISBN 978-1416963783)

THE ASK AND THE ANSWER. Patrick Ness. (Candlewick. $18.99. ISBN 978-0763644901)

BAD NEWS FOR OUTLAWS: THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF BASS REEVES, DEPUTY U.S. MARSHAL, by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson; illus. by R. Gregory Christie (Carolrhoda. $17.95. ISBN: 978-0822567646)

BEFORE COLUMBUS: THE AMERICAS OF 1491. Charles C. Mann. (S&S/Atheneum. $24.99. ISBN 978-1416949008)

BILLY AND MILLY, SHORT AND SILLY. Eve B. Feldman. Illustrated by Tuesday Mourning. (Putnam. $16.99. ISBN 978-0399246517)

BINKY THE SPACE CAT. Ashley Spires. (Kids Can. hardcover, $16.95. ISBN 978-1554533091. paperback, $7.95. ISBN 978-1554534197)

BLOODLINE. Katy Moran. (Candlewick. $16.99. ISBN 978-0763640835)

A BOOK. Mordicai Gerstein. (Roaring Brook. $16.95. ISBN 978-1596432512)

BRING ME SOME APPLES AND I’LL MAKE YOU A PIE: A STORY ABOUT EDNA LEWIS. Robbin Gourley. (Clarion. $16. ISBN 978-0618158362)

BROKEN SOUP. Jenny Valentine. (HarperTeen. $16.99. ISBN 978-0060850715)

CARS ON MARS: ROVING THE RED PLANET. Alexandra Siy. (Charlesbridge. $18.95. ISBN 978-1570914621)

A CHAIR FOR ALWAYS. Vera B. Williams (Greenwillow. $16.99. ISBN 978-0061722790)

CHASING LINCOLN’S KILLER: THE SEARCH FOR JOHN WILKES BOOTH. James L. Swanson. (Scholastic Press, $16.99. ISBN 978-0439903547)

CHILDREN OF WAR: VOICES OF IRAQI REFUGEES. Deborah Ellis. (Groundwood. $15.95. ISBN 978-0888999078)

CITY I LOVE. Lee Bennett Hopkins. Illustrated by Marcellus Hall. (Abrams. $16.95. ISBN 978-0810983274)

COLD SKIN. Steven Herrick. (Front Street/dist. Boyds Mills. $18.95. ISBN 978-1590785720)

THE COLOR OF EARTH. Kim Dong Hwa, trans. from the Korean by Lauren Na. (Roaring Brook/First Second. ISBN 978-1596434585)

CROW CALL. Lois Lowry. Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline. (Scholastic, $16.99. ISBN 978-0545030359)

THE CUCKOO’S HAIKU AND OTHER BIRDING POEMS. Michael J. Rosen. Illustrated by Stan Fellows. (Candlewick. $17.99. ISBN 978-0763630492)

DENIED, DETAINED, DEPORTED: STORIES FROM THE DARK SIDE OF AMERICAN IMMIGRATION. Ann Bausum. (National Geographic. $21.95. ISBN 978-1426303326)

THE DEVIL’S PAINTBOX. Victoria McKernan. (Knopf. $16.99. ISBN 978-0375837500)

DOOM MACHINE, THE. Mark Teague. (Scholastic/Blue Sky. $17.99. ISBN 978-0545151429)

DOPE SICK. Walter Dean Myers. (HarperTeen/Amistad. $16.99. ISBN 978-0061214776)

DUCK! RABBIT! Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld. (Chronicle. $16.99. ISBN 978-0811868655)

EVERYTHIN
G FOR A DOG. Ann M. Martin. (Feiwel and Friends. $16.99. ISBN 978-0312386511)

THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH. Carrie Ryan. (Delacorte. $16.99. ISBN 978-0385736817)

GENTLEMEN. Michael Northrop. (Scholastic Press. $16.99. ISBN 978-0545097499)

GHOSTS OF WAR: MY TOUR OF DUTY. Ryan Smithson. (HarperTeen/Collins. $16.99. ISBN 978-006166468-7)

GOING BOVINE. Libba Bray. (Delacorte. $17.99. ISBN 978-0385733977)

THE GREAT AND ONLY BARNUM: THE TREMENDOUS, STUPENDOUS LIFE OF SHOWMAN P. T. BARNUM. Candace Fleming. Illustrated by Ray Fenwick. (Random House/Schwartz & Wade. $18.99. ISBN 978-0375841972)

HANNAH’S WINTER. Kierin Meehan. (Kane/Miller. $15.95. ISBN 978-1933605982)

HATE LIST. Jennifer Brown. (Little, Brown. $16.99. ISBN 978-0316041447)

HEART OF A SHEPHERD. Rosanne Parry. (Random House, $15.99. ISBN 978-0375848025)

HEARTSINGER. Karlijn Stoffels, trans. from the Dutch by Laura Watkinson. (Scholastic/Levine. $16.99. ISBN 978-0545069298)

HELLO BABY! Mem Fox. Illustrated by Steve Jenkins. (S&S/Beach Lane. $15.99. ISBN 978-1416985136)

HIGHWAY ROBBERY. Kate Thompson. Illustrated by Johnny Duddle and Robert Dress. (Greenwillow. $15.99. ISBN 978-0061730344)

HOME ON THE RANGE: JOHN A. LOMAX AND HIS COWBOY SONGS. Deborah Hopkinson. Illustrated by S.D. Schindler. (Putnam. $16.99. ISBN 978-0399239960)

HONK, HONK, GOOSE! CANADA GEESE START A FAMILY. April Pulley Sayre. Illustrated by Huy Voun Lee. (Holt. $16.95. 978-0805071030)

HOW TO SAY GOODBYE IN ROBOT. Natalie Standiford. (Scholastic. $17.99. ISBN 978-0545107082)

THE ISLANDS OF THE BLESSED. Nancy Farmer. (Atheneum. $18.99. 978-1416907374)

JEREMY DRAWS A MONSTER. Peter McCarty. (Holt. $16.99. ISBN 978-0805069341)

JUMPED. Rita Williams-Garcia. (HarperTeen/Amistad. $16.99. ISBN 978-0060760915)

KALEIDOSCOPE EYES. Jen Bryant. (Knopf. $15.99. ISBN 978-0375840487)

KING OF THE SCREWUPS. K.L. Going. (Harcourt. $17. ISBN 978-0152062583)

LAST NIGHT I SANG TO THE MONSTER. Benjamin Alire Saenz. (Cinco Puntos. $19.95. ISBN: 978-1933693583)

THE LAST OLYMPIAN. Rick Riordan. (Hyperion. $17.99. ISBN 978-1423101475)

THE LION’S SHARE: A TALE OF HALVING CAKE AND EATING IT, TOO. Matthew McElligott. (Walker. $16.99. ISBN 978-0802797681)

LIPS TOUCH: THREE TIMES. Laini Taylor; illus. by Jim Di Bartolo. (Scholastic/Levine, $17.99. ISBN 978-0545055857)

LISTEN TO THE WIND: THE STORY OF DR. GREG & THREE CUPS OF TEA. Greg Mortenson and Susan L. Roth. (Dial. $16.99. ISBN 978-0803730588)

LUCY LONG AGO: UNCOVERING THE MYSTERY OF WHERE WE CAME FROM. Catherine Thimmesh. (Houghton. $18. ISBN 978-0547051994.

MACHINES GO TO WORK. William Low. (Holt. $14.95. ISBN 978-0805087598)

THE MAN WHO LIVED IN A HOLLOW TREE. Anne Shelby. Illustrated by Cor Hazelaar. (Atheneum. $17.99. ISBN 978-0689861697)

MOON RABBIT. Natalie Russell. (Viking. $16.99. ISBN 978-0670011704)

THE MUSEUM OF MARY CHILD. Cassandra Golds. (Kane/Miller. $16.99. ISBN 978-1935279136)

MY UNCLE EMILY. Jane Yolen. Illustrated by Nancy Carpenter. (Philomel. $17.99. ISBN 978-0399240058)

NAKED MOLE RAT GETS DRESSED. Mo Willems. (Hyperion. $16.99. ISBN 978-1423114376)

NEIL ARMSTRONG IS MY UNCLE AND OTHER LIES MUSCLE MAN MCGINTY TOLD ME. Nan Marino. (Roaring Brook. $16.95. ISBN 978-1596434998)

NIC BISHOP BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. Nic Bishop. (Scholastic. $17.99. ISBN 978-0439877572)

NOTHING BUT GHOSTS. Beth Kephart. HarperTeen. $17.99. ISBN 978-0061667961)

ONCE UPON A TWICE. Denise Doyen. Illustrated by Barry Moser. (Random. $16.99. ISBN 978-0375856129)

ONCE WAS LOST. Sara Zarr. (Little, Brown. $16.99. ISBN 978-0316036047)

ONE BEETLE TOO MANY: THE EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURES OF CHARLES DARWIN. Kathryn Lasky. Illustrated by Matthew Trueman. (Candlewick. $17.99. ISBN 978-0763614362)

ONLY A WITCH CAN FLY. Alison McGhee. Illustrated by Taeeun Yoo. (Feiwel & Friends/dist. by St. Martin’s. $16.99. ISBN 978-0312375034)

THE ORANGE HOUSES. Paul Griffin. (Dial. $16.99. ISBN 978-0803733466)

OUR ABE LINCOLN. Jim Aylesworth. Illustrated by Barbara McClintock. (Scholastic. $16.99. ISBN 978-0439925488)

OUR CHILDREN CAN SOAR: A CELEBRATION OF ROSA, BARACK, AND THE PIONEERS OF CHANGE. Michelle Cook. Illustrated by Cozbi A. Cabrera, R. Gregory Christie, Bryan Collier et al. (Bloomsbury. $16.99. ISBN 978-1599904184)

OUTLAW: THE LEGEND OF ROBIN HOOD. Tony Lee. Illustrated by Sam Hart and Artur Fujita. (Candlewick. hardcover, $21.99. ISBN 978-0763643997. paperback, $11.99. ISBN 978-0763644000)

PEACE, LOCOMOTION. Jacqueline Woodson. (Putnam. $15.99. ISBN 978-039924655)

PIPPO THE FOOL. Tracey E. Fern. Illustrated by Pau Estrada. (Charlesbridge. $15.95. ISBN 978-1570916557)

PRINCESS HYACINTH: THE SURPRISING TALE OF A GIRL WHO FLOATED, by Florence Parry Heide. Illustrated by Lane Smith. (Random House/Schwartz & Wade. $17.99. ISBN 978-0375937538)

RATTLE AND RAP. Susan Steggall. (Frances Lincoln (PGW, dist). $15.95. ISBN 978-1845077037)

RAVEN SUMMER. David Almond. (Delacorte. $16.99. ISBN 978-0385738064)

ROSIE AND SKATE. Beth Ann Bauman. (Wendy Lamb/Random House. $15.99. ISBN 978-0385737357)

THE SECRET SCIENCE ALLIANCE AND THE COPYCAT CROOK. Eleanor Davis. (Bloomsbury. $18.99. hardcover ISBN 978-1599901428; paperback, $10.99. 978-1599903965)

SHIVER. Maggie Stiefvater. (Scholastic Press. $17.99. ISBN 978-0545123266)

SHOOTING STAR. Fredrick McKissack, Jr. (Atheneum. $16.99. ISBN 978-1416947450)

SNEAKY WEASEL. Hannah Shaw. (Knopf. $15.99. ISBN 978-0375856259)

STICK MAN. Julia Donaldson. Illustrated by Axel Scheffler. (Scholastic/Levine. $16.99. ISBN 978-0545157612)

THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY. Jenny Han. (Simon & Schuster. $16.99. ISBN 978-1416968238)

SURFACE TENSION: A NOVEL IN FOUR SUMMERS. Brent Runyon. (Knopf. $16.99. ISBN 978-0375844461)

SURPRISE SOUP. Mary Ann Rodman. Illustrated by G. Brian Karas. (Viking. $15.99. ISBN 978-0670062744)

SYLVIE AND THE SONGMAN. Tim Binding. Illustrated by Angela Barrett. (Random House/David Fickling. $15.99. ISBN 978-0385751575)

TALES OF THE MADMAN UNDERGROUND: AN HISTORICAL ROMANCE 1973. John Barnes. (Viking. $18.99. ISBN 978-0670060818)

THIS FULL HOUSE. Virginia Euwer Wolff. (HarperTeen/Bowen. $17.99. ISBN 978-0061583049)

TRAVELING THE FREEDOM ROAD: FROM SLAVERY AND THE CIVIL WAR THROUGH RECONSTRUCTION. Linda Barrett Osborne (Abrams. $24.95. ISBN 978-0810983380)

UNFINISHED ANGEL. Sharon Creech. (HarperCollins. $15.99. ISBN 978-0061430954)

UP CLOSE: HARPER LEE. Kerry Madden. (Viking. $16.99. ISBN 978-0670010950)

A VOICE OF HER OWN: BECOMING EMILY DICKINSON. Barbara Dana. (HarperTeen. $16.99. ISBN 978-0060287047)

WAITING FOR WINTER. Sebastian Meschenmoser. (EDC/Kane Miller. $15.99. ISBN 978-1935279044)

WHEN STELLA WAS VERY, VERY SMALL. Marie-Louise Gay. (Groundwood. $16.95. ISBN 978-0888999061)

WHEN THE WHISTLE BLOWS. Fran Cannon Slayton. (Philomel. $16.99. ISBN 978-0399251894)

WHY I FIGHT. J. Adams Oaks. (Atheneum. $16.99. ISBN 978-1416911777)

* 1 STAR *

3 WILLOWS: THE SISTERHOOD GROWS. Ann Brashares. (Delacorte. $18.99. ISBN 978-0385736763)

AFTER. Amy Efaw. (Viking. $17.99. ISBN 978-0670011834)

ALEX AND LULU: TWO OF A KIND. Lorena Siminovich. (Candlewick. $14.99. ISBN 978-0763644239)

ALIS. Naomi Rich. (Viking. $17.99. ISBN 978-0670011254)

ALVIN HO: ALLERGIC TO CAMPING, HIKING, AND OTHER NAT
URAL DISASTERS. Lenore Look. Illustrated by LeUyen Pham. (Random House/Schwartz & Wade. $15.99. 978-0375857058)

ALWAYS. Alison McGhee. Illustrated by Pascal Lemaitre. (S&S. $15.99. 978-1416974819)

ALMOST PERFECT. Brian Katcher. (Delacorte. $17.99. ISBN 978-0385736640)

THE AMARANTH ENCHANTMENT. Julie Berry. (Bloomsbury. $16.99. ISBN 978-1599903347)

THE ANATOMY OF WINGS. Karen Foxlee. (Knopf. $16.99. ISBN 978-0375856433)

ANDROMEDA KLEIN. Frank Portman. (Delacorte. $17.99. ISBN 978-0385735254)

THE ANNE FRANK CASE: SIMON WIESENTHAL’S SEARCH FOR THE TRUTH. Susan Goldman Rubin. Illustrated by Bill Farnsworth. (Holiday. $18.95. ISBN 978-0823421091)

APPLESAUCE SEASON. Eden Ross Lipson. Illustrated by Mordicai Gerstein. (Roaring Brook. $16.99. ISBN 978-1596432161)

ASH. Malinda Lo. (Little, Brown. $16.99. ISBN 978-0316040099)

ATTICA. Garry Kilworth. (IPG/Atom. $11.95. ISBN 978-1904233565)

ATTILA THE HUN: LEADER OF THE BARBARIAN HORDES. Sean Stewart Price. (Scholastic/Franklin Watts. $5.95. ISBN 978-0531207376)

THE AWAKENING (DARKEST POWERS 02). Kelley Armstrong. (HarperCollins. $17.99. ISBN 978-0061662768)

BACK HOME. Julia Keller. (Egmont. $15.99. ISBN 978-1606840054)

BAIT. Alex Sanchez. (S & S. $16.99. ISBN 978-1416937722)

BARNYARD SLAM. Dian Curtis Regan. Illustrated by Paul Meisel. (Holiday House. $16.95. 978-0823419074)

BARTLEBY SPEAKS! Robin Cruise. Illustrated by Kevin Hawkes. (Farrar/Melanie Kroupa Bks. $16.99. ISBN 978-0374305147)

BAYOU. V.1. Jeremy Love. (DC Comics/Zuda. $14.99. ISBN 978-1401223823)

BECAUSE I AM FURNITURE. Thalia Chaltas. (Viking. $15.99. ISBN 978-0670062980)

BENAZIR BHUTTO. Sean Stewart Price. (Heinemann. $38.93. ISBN 978-1432932220)

BENNY AND PENNY IN THE BIG NO-NO! Geoffrey Hayes. (Raw Junior. $12.95. 978-0979923890)

THE BEST BAD LUCK I EVER HAD. Kristin Levine. (Putnam. $16.99. ISBN 978-0399250903)

BETTINA VALENTINO AND THE PICASSO CLUB. Niki Daly. (Farrar. $16. ISBN 978-0374307530)

BIG AND SMALL, ROOM FOR ALL. Jo Ellen Bogart. Illustrated by Gillian Newland. (Tundra. $18.95. 978-0887768910)

BILL PENNANT, BABE RUTH, AND ME. Timothy Tocher. (Cricket. $17.95. 978-0812627558)

BILLY TWITTERS AND HIS BLUE WHALE PROBLEM. Mac Barnett. Illustrated by Adam Rex. (Hyperion. $16.99. 978-0786849581)

BIRD, BUTTERFLY, EEL. James Prosek. (S&S. $16.99. ISBN 978-0689868290)

BLADE: PLAYING DEAD. Tim Bowler. (Philomel. $16.99. ISBN 978-0399251863)

BLUE MOON. Alyson Noël. (St. Martin’s Griffin. $9.95. ISBN 978-0312532765)

BLUE MOUNTAIN TROUBLE. Martin Mordecai. (Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic. $16.99. ISBN 978-0545041560)

BOATS: SPEEDING! SAILING! CRUISING! Patricia Hubbell. Illustrated by Megan Halsey. (Marshall Cavendish. $17.99. ISBN 978-0761455240)

BOBBY VS. GIRLS (ACCIDENTALLY). Lisa Yee. Illustrated by Dan Santat. (Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic. $15.99. ISBN 978-0545055925)

BOG BABY, THE. Jeanne Willis. (Random House/Schwartz & Wade. $16.99. ISBN 978-0375861765)

BOOK OF SLEEP, A. Il Sung Na. (Knopf. $15.99. ISBN 978-0375862236)

BOY WHO INVENTED TV, THE: THE STORY OF PHILO FARNSWORTH. Kathleen Krull. Illustrated by Greg Couch. (Knopf/Borzoi. $16.99. ISBN 978-0375845611)

BREAK. Hannah Moskowitz. (Simon & Schuster/Simon Pulse. $8.99. ISBN 978-1416982753)

BREATHLESS. Jessica Warman. (Walker. $16.99. ISBN 978-0802798497)

BRENDA BERMAN, WEDDING EXPERT. Jane Breskin Zalben. Illustrated by Victoria Chess. (Clarion. $16. ISBN 978-0618313211)

BRIDGET FIDGET AND THE MOST PERFECT PET! Joe Berger. (Dial. $16.99. ISBN 978-0803734050)

BRIEF HISTORY OF MONTMORAY, A. Michelle Cooper. (Knopf. $16.99. ISBN 978-0375858642)

THE BROOKLYN NINE. Alan Gratz. (Dial. $16.99. ISBN 978-0803732247)

BROTHERS STORY, THE. Katherine Sturtevant. (FSG. $16.99. ISBN 978-0374309923)

BUILDING ON NATURE: THE LIFE OF ANTONI GAUDI. Rachel Rodriguez. Illustrated by Julie Paschkis. (Holt. $16.99. ISBN 978-0805087451)

BYLINES: A PHOTOBIOGRAPHY OF NELLIE BLY. Sue Macy. (National Geographic. $19.95. ISBN 978-1426305139)

CALLIE’S RULES. Naomi Zucker. (Egmont. $15.99. ISBN 978-1606840276)

CAN YOU MAKE A SCARY FACE? Jan. Thomas. (S&S/Beach Lane. $12.99. ISBN 978-1416985815)

CAROLINA HARMONY. Marilyn Taylor McDowell. (Delacorte. $16.99. ISBN 978-0385735902)

A CAROUSEL TALE. Elisa Kleven. (Tricycle. $15.99. ISBN 978-1582462394)

CARTER FINALLY GETS IT. Brent Crawford. (Disney-Hyperion. $15.99. ISBN 978-1423112464)

THE CASE OF THE STINKY SOCKS. Lewis B. Montgomery. Illustrated by Amy Wummer. (Kane Press. paperback. $6.95. ISBN 978-1575652856)

CATHERINE THE GREAT: EMPRESS OF RUSSIA. Zu Vincent. (Scholastic/Franklin Watts. $5.95. ISBN 978-0531207383)

CELESTINE, DRAMA QUEEN. Penny Ives. (Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine. $16.99. ISBN 978-0545081498)

CHARLES DARWIN AND THE BEAGLE ADVENTURE. A. J. Wood & Clint Twist. (Candlewick/Templar. $19.99. ISBN 978-0763645380)

CHICKEN CHEEKS. Michael Ian Black. Illustrated by Kevin Hawkes. (S&S. $15.99. ISBN 978-1416948643)

THE CHOSEN ONE. Carol Lynch Williams. (St. Martin’s Griffin. $16.95. ISBN 978-0312555115)

CHRISTO AND JEAN-CLAUDE: THROUGH THE GATES AND BEYOND. Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan. (Neal Porter/Roaring Brook. $19.95. 978-1596430716)

THE CIRCUS SHIP. Chris Van Dusen. (Candlewick. $16.99. ISBN 978-0763630904)

CLOVER OMNIBUS EDITION. Clamp. (Dark Horse Manga. paperback. $19.95. ISBN 978-1595821966)

CLOVER TWIG AND THE MAGICAL COTTAGE. Kaye Umansky. Illustrated by Johanna Wright. (Roaring Brook. $16.99. ISBN 978-1596435070)

COLD HANDS, WARM HEART. Jill Wolfson. (Henry Holt. $17.99. ISBN 978-0805082821)

COLOR OF HEAVEN, THE. Dong Hwa Kim. Translated by Lauren Na. (First Second. $16.99. ISBN 978-1596434608)

THE COMPOSER IS DEAD. Lemony Snicket. Music by Nathaniel Stookey. Illustrated by Carson Ellis. (HarperCollins. $17.99. ISBN 978-0061236273)

COOL CAT. Nonny Hogrogian. (Roaring Brook. $17.99. ISBN 978-1596434295)

CREEPY CRAWLY CRIME. Aaron Reynolds. Illustrated by Neil Numberman. (Holt. $16.95. ISBN 978-0805082425. paperback. $9.95. ISBN 978-0805087864)

THE CURIOUS GARDEN. Peter Brown. (Little, Brown. $16.99. ISBN 978-0316015479)

DARKWOOD. M.E. Breen. (Bloomsbury. $16.99. ISBN 978-1599902593)

DAYS OF LITTLE TEXAS. R.A. Nelson. (Knopf. $16.99. ISBN 978-0375855931)

DESSERT FIRST. Hallie Durand. Illustrated by Christine Davenier. (S&S/Atheneum. $14.99. ISBN 978-1416963851)

DEVIL’S KISS. Sarwat Chadda, (Disney-Hyperion. $17.99. ISBN 978-1423119999)

DIEGO: BIGGER THAN LIFE. Carmen T. Bernier-Grand. Illustrated by David Diaz. (Marshall Cavendish. $18.99. ISBN 978-0761453833)

DINOSAUR TAMER, THE. Carol Greathouse. Illustrated by John Shroades. (Dutton. $16.99. ISBN 978-0525478669)

DINOSAUR WOODS: CAN SEVEN CLEVER CRITTERS SAVE THEIR FOREST HOME? George McClements. (Beach Lane./S&S. $16.99. ISBN 978-1416986263)

DISTANT WAVES: A NOVEL OF THE TITANIC. Suzanne Weyn. (Scholastic. $17.99. ISBN 978-0545085724)

DO NOT BUILD A FRANKENSTEIN! Neil Numberman. (Greenwillow. $16.99. ISBN 978-0061568169)

DOG BISCUIT. Helen Cooper. (FSG. $16. ISBN 978-0374318123)

DOG DAYS. Jeff Kinney. (Abrams.Amulet. $13.95. ISBN 978-0810983915)

DOG IN THE WOOD, THE. Monika Schroder. (FSG. $17.95. ISBN 978-1590787014)

THE DOLL SHOP DOWNSTAIRS. Yona Zeldis McDonough. I
llustrated by Heather Maione. (Viking. $14.99. ISBN 978-0670010912)

DOWN DOWN DOWN. A JOURNEY TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. Steve Jenkins. (Houghton. $17.00. ISBN 978-0618-966363)

DRAGONBREATH. Ursula Vernon. (Dial. $12.99. ISBN 978-0803733633)

THE DREAM STEALER. Sid Fleischman. Illustrated by Peter Sis. (Greenwillow. $16.99. ISBN 978-0061755637)

DUCK TENTS. Lynne Berry. Illustrated by Hiroe Nakata. (Holt. $16.95. ISBN 978-0805086966)

THE DUEL: THE PARALLEL LIVES OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON & AARON BURR. Judith St. George. (Viking. $16.99. ISBN 978-0670011247)

DUST BOWL THROUGH THE LENS, THE: HOW PHOTOGRAPHY REVEALED AND HELPED REMEDY A NATIONAL DISASTER. Martin W. Sandler. (Walker. $19.99. ISBN 978-0802795472)

EARTH IN THE HOT SEAT: BULLETINS FROM A WARMING WORLD. Marfé Ferguson Delano. (National Geographic. $16.95. ISBN 978-1426304347)

EARTHGIRL. Jennifer Cowan. (Groundwood. $17.95. ISBN 978-0888998897)

EAST-WEST HOUSE, THE: NOGUCHI’S CHILDHOOD IN JAPAN. Christy Hale. (Lee & Low. $17.95. ISBN 978-160060361)

EGG DROP. Mini Grey. (Knopf. $16.99. ISBN 978-0375842603)

EIDI. Bodil Bredsdorff. Translated by Kathryn Mahaffy. (Farrar. $16.99. ISBN 978-0374312671)

EL BARRIO. Debbi Chocolate. Illustrated by David Diaz. (Holt. $16.95. ISBN 978-0805074574)

THE ELEVATOR MAN. Stanley Trachtenberg. Illustrated by Paul Cox. (Eerdmans. $18. ISBN 978-0802853158)

EMMA-JEAN LAZARUS FELL IN LOVE. Lauren Tarshis. (Dial. $16.99. ISBN 978-0803733213)

EMMALINE AND THE BUNNY. Hannigan. Katherine. Illustrated by Katherine Hannigan. 112p. Greenwillow. $17.99. ISBN 978-0061626548)

THE ENEMY: A BOOK ABOUT PEACE. Davide Cali. Illustrated by Serge Bloch. (Random/Schwartz & Wade Bks. $15.99. ISBN 978-0375845000)

EPOSSUMONDAS PLAYS POSSUM. (Coleen Salley. Illustrated by Janet Stevens. (Harcourt. $16. ISBN 978-0152064204)

ERIKA-SAN. Allen Say. (Houghton Mifflin. $17. ISBN 978-0618889334)

ERNEST HEMINGWAY: A WRITER’S LIFE. Catherine Reef. (Clarion. $20. ISBN 978-0618987054)

EVERY HUMAN HAS RIGHTS: A PHOTOGRAPHIC DECLARATION FOR KIDS. National Geographic. $17.95. ISBN 978-1426305108)

EVERYTHING MACHINE, THE. Matt Novak. (Roaring Brook. $17.99. ISBN 978-01596432864)

EVOLUTION REVOLUTION. Robert Winston. (DK. $16.99. ISBN 978-0756645243)

EXTREME SCIENTISTS: EXPLORING NATURE’S MYSTERIES FROM PERILOUS PLACES. Donna M. Jackson. (Houghton. $18. ISBN 978-0618777068)

EYE FOR COLOR, AN: THE STORY OF JOSEF ALBERS. Natasha Wing; illus. by Julia Breckenreid. (Holt. $16.99. ISBN 978-0-805080728)

EYES LIKE STARS (THEATRE ILLUMINATA, ACT I . Lisa Mantchev. (Feiwel & Friends/St. Martin’s. $16.99. ISBN 978-0312380960)

THE FABULOUS FEUD OF GILBERT AND SULLIVAN. Jonah Winter. Illustrated by Richard Egielski. (Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine. $16.99. ISBN 978-0439930505)

FACE TO FACE WITH GORILLAS. Michael "Nick" Nichols & Elizabeth Carney. (National Geographic. $16.95. ISBN 978-1426304064)

THE FACELESS ONES (SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT 03). Derek Landy. (HarperCollins. $16.99. ISBN 978-0061240911)

FAITH. Maya Ajmera, Magda Nakassis, & Cynthia Pon. (Charlesbridge. hardcover, $16.95. ISBN 978-1580891776. paperback, $7.95. ISBN 978-1580891783)

FAITH, HOPE, AND IVY JUNE. Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. (Delacorte. $16.99. ISBN 978-0385736152)

FAMILY SECRET, A. Eric Heuvel. Translated by Lorraine T. Miller. (Farrar. $18.99. ISBN 978-0374322717. Pb $9.99. ISBN 978-0374422653)

THE FANTASTIC UNDERSEA LIFE OF JACQUES COUSTEAU. Dan Yaccarino. (Knopf. $16.99. ISBN 978-0375855733)

THE FATAL CHILD. John Dickinson. (Fickling/Ranom House. $17.99. ISBN 978-0385751100)

THE FETCH. Laura Whitcomb. (Houghton. $17. ISBN 978-0618891313)

FINN THROWS A FIT. David Elliott. Illustrated by Timothy Basil Ering. (Candlewick. $16.99. ISBN 978-0763623562)

FLASH BURNOUT. L.K. Madigan. (Houghton. $16. ISBN 978-0547194899)

FLETCHER AND THE SPRINGTIME BLOSSOMS. Julia Rawlinson. Illustrated by Tiphanie Beeke. (Greenwillow. $17.99. ISBN 978-0061688553)

FLYGIRL. Sherri L. Smith. (Putnam. $16.99. ISBN 978-0399247095)

FOOD, GIRLS, AND OTHER THINGS I CAN’T HAVE. Allen Zadoff. (Egmont. $16.99. ISBN 978-1606840047)

FRANKIE PICKLE AND THE CLOSET OF DOOM. Eric Wight. (S&S. $9.99. ISBN 978-1416964841)

FRANNY PARKER. Hannah Roberts McKinnon. (Farrar. $16. ISBN 978-0374324698)

FROGS. Nic Bishop. (Scholastic. $17.99. ISBN 978-0439877558)

FROGS AND TOADS ALL SANG, THE. Arnold Lobel. Illustrated by author & Adrianne Lobel. (HarperCollins. $16.99. ISBN 978-0061800221)

FUNNY HOW THINGS CHANGE. Melissa Wyatt. (FSG. $16.95. ISBN 978-0374302337)

THE GEORGES AND THE JEWELS. Jane Smiley. Illustrated by Elaine Clayton. (Knopf. $16.99. ISBN 978-0375862274)

GIANT-SLAYER, THE. Iain Lawrence. (Delacorte. $16.95. ISBN 978-0385733762)

THE GIRL WHO THREW BUTTERFLIES. Mick Cochrane. (Knopf. $15.99. ISBN 978-0375856822)

THE GIRL WHO WANTED TO DANCE. Amy Ehrlich. Illustrated by Rebecca Walsh. (Candlewick. $17.99. ISBN 978-0763613457)

THE GOBLIN AND THE EMPTY CHAIR. Mem Fox. Illustrated by Leo Dillon and Diane Dillon. (S&S/Beach Lane. $17.99. ISBN 978-1416985853)

GOLDILOCKS. Ruth Sanderson. (Little, Brown. $16.99. ISBN 978-0316778855)

GOLDILOCKS AND THE THREE BEARS. Adapted by Gennady Spirin. (Marshall Cavendish. $17.99. ISBN 978-0761455967)

THE GOLDSMITH’S DAUGHTER. Tanya Landman. (Candlewick. $16.99. ISBN 978-0763642198)

GOOD DOG, AGGIE. Lori Ries. Illustrated by Frank W. Dormer. (Charlesbridge. $16.99. ISBN 978-1570916454)

GRACIAS / THANKS. Pat Mora. (Lee & Low. $17.95. ISBN 978-1600602580)

GREAT DEATH, THE. John Smelcer. (Holt. $16.99. ISBN 978-0805081008)

GREENER GRASS. Caroline Pignat. (Red Deer. paperback. $12.95. ISBN 978-0889954021)

HAMLET: A NOVEL. John Marsden. (Candlewick. $16.99. ISBN 978-0763644512)

HAPPENSTANCE FOUND. P. W. Catanese. (S&S/Aladdin. $16.99. ISBN 978-1416975199)

HARRY AND HORSIE. Katie Van Camp. Illustrated by Lincoln Agnew. (Balzer & Bray/HarperTeen. $16.99. ISBN 978-0061755989)

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A SNEEP? Tasha Pym. Illustrated by Joel Stewart. (FSG. $16.95. ISBN 978-0374328689)

HENRY’S NIGHT. D.B. Johnson and Linda Michelin. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. $16. ISBN 978-0547056630)

HOW DO I LOVE YOU? Marion Dane Bauer. Illustrated by Caroline Jayne Church. (Cartwheel/Scholastic. $8.99. ISBN 978-0545072700)

HOW DO YOU WOKKA-WOKKA? Elizabeth Bluemle. Illustrated by Randy Cecil. (Candlewick. $15.99. ISBN 978-0763632281)

HOW MANY BABY PANDAS? Sandra Markle. (Walker. $15.99. ISBN 978-0802797834)

HOW OLIVER OLSON CHANGED THE WORLD. Claudia Mills. Illustrated by Heather Maione. (Farrar. $15.95. . ISBN 978-0374334871)

HOW TO SCRATCH A WOMBAT: WHERE TO FIND IT…WHAT TO FEED IT…WHY IT SLEEPS ALL DAY. Jackie French. Illustrated by Bruce Whatley. (Clarion. $16. ISBN 978-0618868643)

HURRY UP AND SLOW DOWN. Layn Marlow. (Holiday House. $16.95. ISBN 978-082342178-7)

I AND I: BOB MARLEY. Tony Medina. Illustrated by Jesse Joshua Watson. (Lee & Low. $19.95. ISBN 978-1600602573)

I HEARD GOD TALKING TO ME: WILLIAM EDMONDSON AND HIS STONE CARVINGS. Elizabeth Spires. (Farrar/Frances Foster Bks. $17.95. ISBN 978-0374335281)

I WANT TO BE FREE. Joseph Slate. Illustrated by E. B. Lewis. (Putnam. $16.99. ISBN 978-0399243424)

THE IMAGINARY GARDEN. Andrew Larsen. Illustrated by Irene Luxbacher.
(Kids Can. $16.95. ISBN 978-1554532797)

IMOGENE’S LAST STAND. Candace Fleming; illus. by Nancy Carpenter. (Schwartz & Wade/Random. $16.99. ISBN 978-0375836077)

INVISIBLE I (AMANDA PROJECT). Stella Lennon. (HarperTeen. $16.99. ISBN 978-0061742125)

IT’S USEFUL TO HAVE A DUCK. Isol. (Groundwood. $10. ISBN 978-0888999276)

IT’S A SECRET! John Burningham. Illustrated by John Burningham. (Candlewick. $16.99. ISBN 978-0763642754)

ITTY BITTY. Cece Bell. (Candlewick. $9.99. ISBN 978-0763636166)

JACK TUMOR. Anthony McGowan. (Farrar. $17.95. ISBN 978-0374329556)

JASPER DASH AND THE FLAME-PITS OF DELAWARE. M. T. Anderson. (Simon & Schuster/Beach Lane. $16.99. ISBN 978-1416986393)

JESSICA’S GUIDE TO DATING ON THE DARK SIDE. Beth Fantaskey. (Harcourt. $17. ISBN 978-0152063849)

JOE AND SPARKY GET NEW WHEELS. Jamie Michalak. Illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz. (Candlewick. $15.99. ISBN 978-0763633875)

JOE RAT. Mark Barratt. (Eerdmans. $9.00. ISBN 978-0802853561)

JOHN BROWN: HIS FIGHT FOR FREEDOM. John Hendrix. (Abrams. $18.95. ISBN 978-0810937987)

JOURNEY OF DREAMS. Marge Pellegrino. (Frances Lincoln/PGW. $15.95. ISBN 978-1847800619)

JUMPING OFF SWINGS. Jo Knowles. (Candlewick. $16.99. ISBN 978-0763639495)

JUST THE RIGHT SIZE: WHY BIG ANIMALS ARE BIG AND LITTLE ANIMALS ARE LITTLE. Nicola Davies. Illustrated by Neal Layton. (Candlewick. $14.99. ISBN 978-0763639242)

THE KING’S TASTER. Kenneth Oppel. Illustrated by Lou Fancher. (HarperCollins. $17.99. ISBN 978-0060753726)

LADYBUG GIRL AND BUMBLEBEE BOY. David Soman and Jacky Davis. (Dial. $16.99. ISBN 978-0803733398)

LAST DECEMBER. Matt Beam. (Front Street. $18.95. ISBN 978-1590786512)

LEAVING GLORYTOWN: ONE BOY’S STRUGGLE UNDER CASTRO. Eduardo F. Calcines.( Farrar. $17.95. ISBN 978-0374343941)

THE LEGEND OF NINJA COWBOY BEAR. David Bruins. Illustrated by Hilary Leung. (Kids Can Press. $16.95. ISBN 978-1554534869)

LET’S DO NOTHING! Tony Fucile. (Candlewick. $16.99. ISBN 978-0763634407)

LIFE IN THE BOREAL FOREST. Brenda Z. Guiberson. Illustrated by Gennady Spirin. (Holt. $16.99. ISBN 978-0805077186)

LINCOLN AND HIS BOYS. Rosemary Wells. Illustrated by P.J. Lynch. (Candlewick. $16.99. ISBN 978-0763637231)

LINCOLN SHOT: A PRESIDENT’S LIFE REMEMBERED. Barry Denenberg. Illustrated by Christopher Bing. (Feiwel & Friends. $24.95. ISBN 978-0312370138)

LITTLE PANDA. Renata Liwska. (Houghton. $12.95. ISBN 978-0618966271)

LIVING SUNLIGHT: HOW PLANTS BRING THE EARTH TO LIFE. Molly Bang and Penny Chrisholm. (Scholastic/Blue Sky. $16.99. ISBN 978-0545044226)

LOOKING LIKE ME. Walter Dean Myers. Illustrated by Christopher Myers. (Egmont. $18.95. ISBN 978-1606840016)

LOUSY ROTTEN STINKIN’ GRAPES. Margie Palatini. Illustrated by Barry Moser. (S&S. $15.99. ISBN 978-0689802461)

LOVE, AUBREY. Suzanne LaFleur. (Random/Wendy Lamb. $15.99. ISBN 978-0385737746)

LOVEY AND DOVEY. Elle van Lieshout, Mies Van Hout, & Erik van Os. (Lemniscaat. $16.95. ISBN 978-1590786604)

LUKE ON THE LOOSE. Harry Bliss. Toon Bks. $12.95. ISBN 978-1935179009)

LUV YA BUNCHES. Lauren Myracle. (Abrams. $15.95. ISBN 978-0810942110)

LYONESSE: THE WELL BETWEEN THE WORLDS. Sam Llewellyn. (Orchard. $17.99. ISBN 978-0439934695)

MAGIC AND MISERY. Peter Marino. (Holiday. $17.95. ISBN 978-0823421336)

MAMA SAYS: A BOOK OF LOVE FOR MOTHERS AND SONS. Rob D. Walker. Illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon. (Scholastic/Blue Sky. $16.99. ISBN 978-0439932084)

A MAP OF THE KNOWN WORLD. Lisa Ann Sandell. (Scholastic. $16.99. ISBN 978-0545069700)

MARE’S WAR. Tanita S. Davis. (Knopf. $16.99. ISBN 978-0375857140)

MARTHA DOESN’T SAY SORRY! Samantha Berger. Illustrated by Bruce Whatley. (Little, Brown. $15.99. ISBN 978-0316066822)

ME AND YOU. Geneviève Côté. (Kids Can. $16.95. ISBN 978-1554534463)

ME AND YOU. Janet A. Holmes. Illustrated by Judith Rossell. (NorthSouth. $14.95. ISBN 978-0735822504)

MELONHEAD. Katy Kelly. Illustrated by Gillian Johnson. (Delacorte. $12.99. ISBN 978-0385734097)

MERMAID QUEEN: THE SPECTACULAR TRUE STORY OF ANNETTE KELLERMAN, WHO SWAM HER WAY TO FAME, FORTUNE & SWIMSUIT HISTORY! Shana Corey. (Scholastic. $17.99. ISBN 978-0439698351)

MILES BETWEEN. Mary Pearson. (Holt. $16.99. ISBN 978-0805088281)

A MIRROR TO NATURE: POEMS ABOUT REFLECTION. Jane Yolen. Photos by Jason Stemple. (Boyds Mills/Wordsong. $17.95. ISBN 978-1590786246)

MITTEN, THE. Retold by Jim Aylesworth. Illustrated by Barbara McClintock. (Scholastic. $16.99. ISBN 978-0439925440)

MONSTRUMOLOGIST, THE. Rick Yancey. (S&S. $17.99. ISBN 978-1416984481)

THE MORGUE AND ME. John C. Ford. (Viking. $17.99. ISBN 978-0670010967)

MORIBITO II: GUARDIAN OF THE DARKNESS. Nahoko Uehashi. Translated by Cathy Hirano. (Scholastic/Levine. $17.99. ISBN 978-0545102957)

MOST LOVED IN ALL THE WORLD: A STORY OF FREEDOM. Tonya Hegamin. Illustrated by Cozbi A. Cabrera. (Houghton Mifflin. $17. ISBN 978-0618419036)

THE MOSTLY TRUE ADVENTURES OF HOMER P. FIGG. Rodman Philbrick. (Scholastic/Blue Sky. $16.99. ISBN 978-0439668187)

THE MOUNT RUSHMORE CALAMITY (FLAT STANLEY’S WORLDWIDE ADVENTURES 01). Sara Pennypacker. Illustrated by Macky Pamintuan. (Harper. hardcover, $15.99. ISBN 978-0061429910. paperback, $4.99. ISBN 978-0061429903)

MOUSE WAS MAD. Linda Urban. Illustrated by Henry Cole. (Harcourt. $16. ISBN 978-0152053376)

MOXY MAXWELL DOES NOT LOVE PRACTICING THE PIANO: BUT SHE DOES LOVE BEING IN RECITALS. Peggy Elizabeth Gifford. Photos by Valorie Fisher. (Schwartz & Wade/Random House. $12.99. ISBN 978-0375844881)

MR. AND MRS. PORTLY AND THEIR LITTLE DOG, SNACK. Sandra Jordan. Illustrated by Christine Davenier. (Farrar. $16.99. ISBN 978-0374350895)

MRS. LINCOLN’S DRESSMAKER: THE UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIP OF ELIZABETH KECKLEY AND MARY TODD LINCOLN. Lynda Jones. (National Geographic. $18.95. ISBN 978-1426303777)

MY BROTHER BERT. Ted Hughes. Illustrated by Tracey Campbell Pearson. (Farrar. $16.95. ISBN 978-0374399825)

MY LIFE IN PINK AND GREEN. Lisa Greenwald. (Amulet/dist. by Abrams. $16.95. ISBN 978-0810983526)

MY MOM IS TRYING TO RUIN MY LIFE. Kate Feiffer. Illustrated by Diane Goode. (S&S/Wiseman. $16.99. ISBN 978-1416941002)

MY NAME IS JASON. MINE TOO: OUR STORY. OUR WAY. Jason Reynolds & Jason Griffin. (HarperCollins/Joanna Cotler Bks. $12.99. ISBN 978-0061547881)

MY PAPA DIEGO AND ME: MEMORIES OF MY FATHER AND HIS ART / MI PAPA DIEGO Y YO: RECUERDOS DE MI PADRE Y SU ARTE. Guadalupe Rivera Marin. (Children’s Book Press. $17.95. ISBN 978-0892392285)

NASREEN’S SECRET SCHOOL: A TRUE STORY FROM AFGHANISTAN. Jeanette Winter. (S&S/Beach Lane. $16.99. ISBN 978-1416994374)

NEVER SMILE AT A MONKEY. Steve Jenkins. (Houghton. $16. ISBN 978-0-618966202)

NEVERMORE: A PHOTOBIOGRAPHY OF EDGAR ALLAN POE. Karen E. Lange. (National Geographic. $17.95. ISBN 978-1426303982)

NEW YEAR AT THE PIER: A ROSH HASHANAH STORY. April Halprin Wayland. Illustrated by Stéphane Jorisch. (Dial. $16.99. ISBN 978-0803732797)

NEWSGIRL. Liza Ketchum. (Viking. $16.99. ISBN 978-0670011193)

NIGHT LIGHTS. Susan Gal. (Knopf. $14.99. ISBN 978-0375858628)

THE NINE LIVES OF ROTTEN RALPH. Jack Gantos. Illustrated by Nicole Rubel. (Houghton Mifflin. $16. ISBN 978-0618-800469)

NO MORE US FOR YOU. David Hernandez . (HarperTeen. $16.99. ISBN 978-0061173332)

NOT ALL ANIMALS ARE BLUE: A BIG BOOK
OF LITTLE DIFFERENCES. Béatrice Boutignon. (Kane/Miller. $15.95. ISBN 978-1933605968)

NUBS: THE TRUE STORY OF A MUTT, A MARINE, & A MIRACLE. Major Brian Dennis and Kirby Larson and others. (Little, Brown. $17.99. ISBN 978-0316053181)

ODD AND THE FROST GIANTS. Neil Gaiman. Illustrated by Brett Helquist. (HarperCollins. $14.99. ISBN 978-0061671739)

THE ODD EGG. Emily Gravett. (S&S. $15.99. ISBN 978-1416968726)

ODDLY. Joyce Dunbar. Illustrated by Patrick Benson. (Candlewick. $16.99. ISBN 978-0763642747)

OK GO. Carin Berger. (HarperCollins/Greenwillow. $17.99. ISBN 978-0061576669)

ON THE FARM. David Elliott. Illustrated by Holly Meade. (Candlewick. $16.99. ISBN 978-0763633226)

THE ONE AND ONLY MARIGOLD. Florence Parry Heide. Illustrated by Jill McElmurry. (Schwartz & Wade/Random House. $16.99. ISBN 978-0375840319)

ONE LONELY DEGREE. C.K. Kelly Martin. (Random House. $16.99. ISBN 978-0375851636)

ONE WORLD, ONE DAY. Barbara Kerley. (National Geographic. $17.95. ISBN 978-1426304606)

OPEN THE DOOR TO LIBERTY!: A BIOGRAPHY OF TOUSSAINT L’OUVERTURE. Anne Rockwell. Illustrated by R. Gregory Christie. (Houghton. $18. ISBN 978-0618605705)

OPERATION YES. Sara Lewis Holmes. (Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine. $16.99. ISBN 978-0545107952)

ORANGE. Benjamin. (Tokyopop. paperback. $14.99. ISBN 978-1427814630)

OSCAR AND ARABELLA AND ORMSBY. Neal Layton. (Hodder (IPG. dist). $14.95. ISBN 978-0340884546)

OTIS. Loren Long. (Philomel. $17.99. ISBN 978-0399252488)

OTTER MOON. Tudor Humphries. (Boxer/dist. by Sterling. $16.95. ISBN 978-1906250693)

OUR CORNER GROCERY STORE. Joanne F. Schwartz. Illustrated by Laura Beingessner. (Tundra. $19.95. ISBN 978-0887768682)

PALE ASSASSIN, THE. Patricia Elliott. (Holiday House. $17.95. ISBN 978-0823422500)

PANORAMA: A FOLDOUT BOOK. Fani Marceau. Illustrated by Joelle Jolivet. (Abrams. $19.95. ISBN 978-0810983328)

PEARL AND WAGNER: ONE FUNNY DAY. Kate McMullan. Illustrated by R. W. Alley. (Dial. $14.99. ISBN 978-0803730854)

PEARL HARBOR: A PRIMARY SOURCE HISTORY. Jacqueline Laks Gorman. (Gareth Stevens. $31.00. ISBN 978-1433900471)

PEEP!: A LITTLE BOOK ABOUT TAKING A LEAP. Maria Van Lieshout. (Feiwel & Friends. $12.99. ISBN 978-0312369156)

PELÉ. KING OF SOCCER/PELÉ. EL REY DEL FUTBOL. Monica Brown. Illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez. (Rayo/HarperCollins. $17.99. ISBN 978-0061227790)

A PENGUIN STORY. Antoinette Portis. (HarperCollins. $17.99. ISBN 978-0061456886)

PERSEPHONE. Sally Pomme Clayton. Illustrated by Virginia Lee. (Eerdmans. $18. ISBN 978-0802853493)

PHILOSOPHY, INVENTION, AND ENGINEERING. Derek Hall. (Brown Bear. $24.95. ISBN 978-1933834481)

PHOTOGRAPHER: INTO WAR-TORN AFGHANISTAN WITH DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS. Emmanuel Guibert. Photos by Didier Lefèvre. Translated from French by Alexis Siegel. Illustrated by author & Frédéric Lemercier. (Roaring Brook/First Second. $29.95. ISBN 978-1596433755)

POP. Gordon Korman. (HarperTeen. $16.99. ISBN 978-0061742287)

POP-UP GUIDE TO NURSERY RHYMES, A. Matthew Reinhart. (LittleSimon. $26.99 ISBN 978-1416918257)

POSY. Linda Newbery. Illustrated by Catherine Rayner. (S&S/Atheneum. $16.99. ISBN 978-1416971122)

POUCH! David Ezra Stein. (Putnam. $15.99. ISBN 978-0399250514)

PRETTY DEAD. Francesca Lia Block. (HarperTeen. $16.99. ISBN 978-0061547850)

THE PRINCESS AND THE BEAR. Mette Ivie Harrison. (HarperTeen. $17.99. ISBN 978-006155314X)

THE PROBLEM WITH THE PUDDLES. Kate Feiffer. Illustrated by Tricia Tusa. (S&S/Wiseman. $16.99. ISBN 978-1416949619)

PROPHECY OF THE SISTERS. Michelle Zink. (Little, Brown. $17.99. ISBN 978-0316027427)

PUFFLING. Margaret Wild. Illustrated by Julie Vivas. (Feiwel & Friends. $16.99. ISBN 978-0312565701)

PUNKZILLA. Adam Rapp. (Candlewick. $16.99. ISBN 978-0763630317)

PUPPET. Eva Wiseman. (Tundra. $17.95. ISBN 978-0887768288)

PURPLE HEART. Patricia McCormick. (HarperCollins/Balzer & Bray. $16.99. ISBN 978-0061730900)

PUT IT ON THE LIST! Kristen Darbyshire. (Dutton. $16.99. ISBN 978-0525479062)

RABBITS. Anita Ganeri. (Heinemann. Pb $7.99. ISBN 978-1432934019)

RACHAEL RAY: FOOD ENTREPRENEUR. Dennis Abrams. (Chelsea House. library edition. $30. ISBN 978-1604130782)

READ IT, DON’T EAT IT! Ian Schoenherr. (HarperCollins/Greenwillow. $17.99. ISBN 978-0061724558)

RECYCLE THIS BOOK: 100 TOP CHILDREN’S BOOK AUTHORS TELL YOU HOW TO GO GREEN. Dan Gutman, ed. (Random House/Yearling. pap. $5.99. ISBN 978-0385737210)

THE RED BLAZER GIRLS: THE RING OF ROCAMADOUR. Michael D. Beil. (Knopf. $15.99. ISBN 978-0375848148)

THE REFORMED VAMPIRE SUPPORT GROUP. Catherine Jinks. (Harcourt. $17. ISBN 978-0152066093)

RISE AND FALL OF SENATOR JOE MCCARTHY, THE. James Cross Giblin. (Clarion. $22.00. ISBN 978-0618610587)

RIVER OF DREAMS: THE STORY OF THE HUDSON RIVER. Hudson Talbott. (Putnam. $17.99. ISBN 978-0399245213)

ROAWR! Barbara Joosse. Illustrated by Jan Jutte. (Philomel. $16.99. ISBN 978-0399247774)

THE ROCK AND THE RIVER. Kekla Magoon. (Aladdin. $15.99. ISBN 978-1416975829)

RUINED: A NOVEL. Paula Morris. (Scholastic/Point. $16.99. ISBN 978-0545042154)

SAME DIFFERENCE. Siobhan Vivian. (Push/Scholastic. $17.99. 978-0545004077)

SAME SAME. Marthe Jocelyn. Illustrated by Tom Slaughter. (Tundra. $15.95. ISBN 978-0887768859)

SAVING THE GHOST OF THE MOUNTAIN: AN EXPEDITION AMONG SNOW LEOPARDS IN MONGOLIA. Sy Montgomery. Photos by Nic Bishop. (Scientists in the Field Series). (Houghton. $18. ISBN 978-0618916450)

SAY THE WORD. Jeannine Garsee. (Bloomsbury. $16.99. ISBN 978-1599903330)

SCAT. Carl Hiaasen. (Knopf/Borzoi. $16.99. ISBN 978-0375834868)

SEARCH, THE. Eric Heuvel & Ruud Van der Rol. Lies Schippers. Translated by Lorraine T. Miller. (FSG. $18.99. ISBN 978-0374365172)

THE SECRET LIFE OF PRINCE CHARMING. Deb Caletti. (Simon & Schuster. $16.99. ISBN 978-1416959403)

THE SECRET WORLD OF WALTER ANDERSON. Hester Bass. Illustrated by E.B. Lewis. (Candlewick. $17.99. ISBN 978-0763635831)

SECRETS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. Megan Frazer. (Disney-Hyperion. $15.99. ISBN 978-1423117117)

SEPTEMBER 11: A PRIMARY SOURCE HISTORY. Alan Wachtel. (Gareth Stevens. $31.00. ISBN 978-1433900488)

SERENDIPITY MARKET. Penny Blubaugh. (HarperTeen. $16.99. ISBN 978-0061468754)

SIGNING THEIR LIVES AWAY: THE FAME AND MISFORTUNE OF THE MEN WHO SIGNED THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. Denise Kiernan & Joseph D’Agnese. (Quirk. $19.95. ISBN 978-1594743306)

SILKSINGER (DREAMDARK 02). Laini Taylor. (Putnam. $18.99. ISBN 978-0399246319)

SILVER PHOENIX: BEYOND THE KINGDOM OF XIA. Cindy Pon. (Greenwillow. $17.99. ISBN 978-0061730214)

THE SINGING (BOOKS OF PELLINOR 04). Alison Croggon. (Candlewick. $18.99. ISBN 978-0763636657)

SKY HIGH: THE TRUE STORY OF MAGGIE GEE. Marissa Moss. Illustrated by Carl Angel. (Tricycle. $16.99. ISBN 978-1582462806)

SKY MAGIC. Selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins. Illustrated by Mariusz Stawarski. (Dutton. $17.99. ISBN 978-0525478621)

SLEEPSONG. George Ella Lyon. Illustrated by Peter Catalanotto. (Atheneum. $16.99. ISBN 978-0689869738)

THE SLEEPY LITTLE ALPHABET: A BEDTIME STORY FROM ALPHABET TOWN. Judy Sierra. Illustrated by Melissa Sweet. (Knopf. $16.99. ISBN 978-0375840029)

SLITHER AND CRAWL: EYE TO EYE WITH REPTILES. Jim Arnosky. (Sterling. $14.95. ISBN 978-1402739866)

SLOB. Ellen Potter. (Philomel. $16.99. ISBN 97
8-0399247057)

SNIPER, THE. James Riordan. (Frances Lincoln. $8.95. ISBN 978-1845078850)

SO PUNK ROCK (AND OTHER WAYS TO DISAPPOINT YOUR MOTHER). Micol Ostow. Illustrated by David Ostow. (Flux. paperback. $9.95. ISBN 978-0738714714)

SOJOURNER TRUTH’S STEP-STOMPING STRIDE. Andrea Davis Pinkney. Illustrated by Brian Pinkney. (Jump at the Sun. $16.99. ISBN 978-0786807673)

SOLDIER’S SECRET: THE STORY OF DEBORAH SAMPSON. Sheila Solomon Klass. (Holt/Christy Ottaviano. $17.95. ISBN 978-0805082005)

THE SONG OF FRANCIS. Tomie DePaola. (Putnam. $16.99. ISBN 978-0399252105)

SOPHIE PETERMAN TELLS THE TRUTH. Sarah Weeks. Illustrated by Robert Neubecker. (S&S/Beach Lane. $16.99. 978-1416986867)

SOPHOMORE SWITCH. Abby McDonald. (Candlewick. $17.99. ISBN 978-0763639362)

SOUL ENCHILADA. David Macinnis Gill. (HarperTeen. $16.99. ISBN 978-0061673016)

SPELLS. Emily Gravett. (S&S. $16.99. ISBN 978-1416982708)

SPIDERS. Nic Bishop. (Scholastic. $17.99. ISBN 978-0439877565)

STAGECOACH SAL. Deborah Hopkinson. Illustrated by Carson Ellis. (Disney-Hyperion. $16.99. ISBN 978-1423111498)

STARCLIMBER. Kenneth Oppel. (HarperCollins/Eos. $17.99. ISBN 978-0060850579)

STEADY HANDS: POEMS ABOUT WORK. Tracie Vaughn Zimmer. Illustrated by Megan Halsey and Sean Addy. Clarion. $16. ISBN 978-0618903511)

STEALING DEATH. Janet Lee Carey. (Egmont. $16.99. ISBN 978-1606840092)

STITCHES: A MEMOIR. David Small. (Norton. $23.95. ISBN 978-0393068573)

STORIES FROM THE BILLABONG. James Vance Marshall. Illustrated by Francis Firebrace. (Frances Lincoln. $19.95. ISBN 978-1845077044)

THE STORY BEHIND TOILETS. Elizabeth Raum. (Heinemann. $28.21. ISBN 978-1432923501)

STORY OF THE CHICAGO BEARS, THE. Nate LeBoutillier. (Creative Education. $32.80. ISBN 978-1583417508)

STRAWBERRY HILL. Mary Ann Hoberman. Illustrated by Wendy Anderson Halperin. (Little, Brown. $15.99. ISBN 978-0316041362)

THE SUPER HUNGRY DINOSAUR. Martin Waddell. Illustrated by Leonie Lord. (Dial. $16.99. ISBN 978-0803734463)

SUPERHERO SCHOOL. Aaron Reynolds. Illustrated by Andy Rash. (Bloomsbury. $16.99. ISBN 978-1599901664)

SWEETHEART OF PROSPER COUNTY, THE. Jill S. Alexander. (Feiwel & Friends. $16.99. ISBN 978-0312548568)

SWIM THE FLY. Don Calame. (Candlewick. $16.99. ISBN 978-0763641573)

SWOON. Nina Malkin. (Simon Pulse. $17.99. ISBN 978-1416974345)

T-MINUS: THE RACE TO THE MOON. Jim Ottaviani. Illustrated by Zander Cannon and Kevin Cannon. (Aladdin/Simon. hardcover, $21.99. ISBN 978-1416986829. paperback, $12.99. ISBN 978-1416949602)

TACKY GOES TO CAMP. Helen Lester. Illustrated by Lynn Munsinger. (Houghton. $16. ISBN 978-0618988129)

TAKEN BY STORM. Angela Morrison. (Razorbill. $16.99. ISBN 978-1595142382)

TEEDIE: THE STORY OF YOUNG TEDDY ROOSEVELT. Don Brown. (Houghton. $16. ISBN 978-0618179992)

THE TERRIBLE PLOP. Ursula Dubosarsky. Illustrated by Andrew Joyner. (FSG. $15.99. ISBN 978-0374374280)

THANK YOU, GOD, FOR EVERYTHING. August Gold. Illustrated by Wendy Anderson Halperin. (Putnam. $16.99. ISBN 978-0399240492)

THANKS A LOT, EMILY POST! Jennifer LaRue Huget. (Random/Schwartz & Wade. $16.99. ISBN 978-0375838538)

THERE. Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick. (Roaring Brook/Neal Porter. $17.95. ISBN 978-1596430877)

THIRTEENTH CHILD (FRONTIER MAGIC 01). Patricia C. Wrede. (Scholastic. $16.99. ISBN 978-0545033428)

THREE LITTLE KITTENS AND OTHER FAVORITE NURSERY RHYMES. Comp. and Illustrated by Tony Ross. (Holt. $16.95. ISBN 978-0805088854)

THUMB AND THE BAD GUYS. Ken Roberts. Illustrated by Leanne Franson. (Groundwood. $17.95. ISBN 978-0888999160)

TILLIE LAYS AN EGG. Terry Golson. photos by Ben Fink. (Scholastic. $16.99. ISBN 978-0545005371)

TOBY ALONE. Timothée de Fombelle. Illustrated by Francois Place. Translated by Sarah Ardizzone. (Candlewick. $17.99. ISBN 978-0763641818)

THE TOLL BRIDGE. Aidan Chambers. (Abrams/Amulet. $8.95. ISBN 978-0810983588)

TOON TREASURY OF CLASSIC CHILDREN’S COMICS, THE. Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly, editors. (Abrams ComicArts. $40. 978-0810957305)

TOUCH. Francine Prose. (HarperTeen. $16.99. ISBN 978-0061375170)

TRICKING THE TALLYMAN. Jacqueline Davies. Illustrated by S. D. Schindler. (Knopf. $17.99. ISBN 978-0375839092)

TROPICAL SECRETS: HOLOCAUST REFUGEES IN CUBA. Margarita Engle. (Holt. $16.95. ISBN 978-0805089363)

TRUCKS GO. Steve Light. (Chronicle. $8.99. ISBN 978-0811865425)

TUMTUM & NUTMEG: ADVENTURES BEYOND NUTMOUSE HALL. Emily Bearn. Illustrated by Nick Price. (Little, Brown. $16.99. ISBN 978-0316027038)

THE TWILIGHT PRISONER. Katherine Marsh. (Disney-Hyperion. $17.99. ISBN 978-1423106937)

UNDER SIEGE: THREE CHILDREN AT THE CIVIL WAR BATTLE FOR VICKSBURG. Andrea Warren. (Farrar/Melanie Kroupa. $17.95. ISBN 978-0374312558)

THE UNINVITED. Tim Wynne-Jones . (Candlewick. $16.99. ISBN 978-0763639846)

THE UNKNOWNS. Benedict Carey. (Amulet. $16.95. ISBN 978-0810979918)

UP CLOSE: BILL GATES. Marc Aronson. (Viking. $16.99. ISBN 978-0670063487)

UP CLOSE: THEODORE ROOSEVELT. Michael L. Cooper. (Viking. $16.99. ISBN 978-0670011346)

VOICES OF CHRISTMAS. Nikki Grimes. Illustrated by Eric Velasquez. (Zonderkidz. $16.99. ISBN 978-0310711926)

A WALK IN NEW YORK. Salvatore Rubbino. (Candlewick.$16.99. ISBN 978-0763638559)

WAR GAMES. Audrey Couloumbis and Akila Couloumbis. (Random House. $16.99. ISBN 978-0375856280)

THE WATERS & THE WILD. Francesca Lia Block. (HarperTeen. $16.99. ISBN 978-0061452444)

WE ARE THE WEATHER MAKERS: THE HISTORY OF CLIMATE CHANGE. Tim Flannery. Adapted by Sally M. Walker. (Candlewick. $17.99. ISBN 978-0763636562)

WE’RE ALL IN THE SAME BOAT. Zachary Shapiro. Illustrated by Jack E. Davis. (Putnam. $16.99. ISBN 978-0399243936)

WE TROUBLED THE WATERS. Ntozake Shange. Illustrated by Rod Brown. (Harper/Amistad. $16.99. ISBN 978-0061337376)

WHAT BLUEBIRDS DO. Pamela F. Kirby. (Boyds Mills. $16.95. ISBN 978-159078-6147)

WHAT IS THIS? Antje Damm. (Frances Lincoln /PGW. dist.. $15.95. ISBN 978-1845078997)

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO HUMPTY: FROM THE FILES OF A HARD-BOILED DETECTIVE. Jeanie Franz Ransom and Joe Dumpty. Illustrated by Stephen Axelsen. (Charlesbridge. $15.95. ISBN 978-1580891097)

WHAT TO DO ABOUT ALICE?: HOW ALICE ROOSEVELT BROKE THE RULES, CHARMED THE WORLD, AND DROVE HER FATHER TEDDY CRAZY. Barbara Kerley. Illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham. (Scholastic. $16.99. ISBN 978-0439922319)

WHAT WOULD EMMA DO? Eileen Cook. Simon Pulse. paperback, $7.99. ISBN 978-1416974321)

WHAT’S COMING FOR CHRISTMAS? Kate Banks. Illustrated by Georg Hallensleben. (FSG. $15.99. ISBN 978-0374399481)

WHEN ROYALS WORE RUFFLES: A FUNNY & FASHIONABLE ALPHABET! Chesley McLaren and Pamela Jaber. Illustrated by McLaren. (Schwartz & Wade. $16.99. ISBN 978-0375851667)

WHEN THE SNOW FELL. Henning Mankell. Translated by Laurie Thompson. (Delacorte. $15.99. ISBN 978-0385734974)

WHERE TEDDY BEARS COME FROM. Mark Burgess. Illustrated by Russell Ayto. (Peachtree. $16.95. ISBN 978-1561454877)

THE WHITE WITCH. Janet Graber. (Roaring Brook. $17.95. ISBN 978-1596433373)

WHITEFOOT: A STORY FROM THE CENTER OF THE WORLD. Wendell Berry. Illustrated by Davis Te Selle. (Counterpoint. $22. ISBN 978-1582434322)

WHY IS SNOT GREEN? AND OTHER EXTREMELY IMPORTANT QUESTIONS (AND ANSWERS). Glenn Murphy. (Flash Point. $9.95. ISBN 978-1596435001)

WILD GIRL. Patricia Reilly Giff. (Wendy Lamb/Random Ho
use. $15.99. ISBN 978-0375838903)

WILD THINGS. Clay Carmichael. (Front Street/ dist. by Boyds Mills. $18.95. ISBN 978-1590786277)

WILLOUGHBY AND THE LION. Greg Foley. (HarperCollins/Bowen. $17.99. ISBN 978-0061547508)

WILSON AND MISS LOVELY: A BACK-TO-SCHOOL MYSTERY. John Stadler. (Random/Corey. $9.99. ISBN 978-037584478-2)

WINK: THE NINJA WHO WANTED TO BE NOTICED. J. C. Phillipps. (Viking. $15.99. ISBN 978-0670010929)

WINTER WOOD (TOUCHSTONE TRILOGY 03). Steve Augarde. (David Fickling/Random House. $17.99. ISBN 978-0385750749)

WINTER’S END. Jean-Claude Mourlevat. Translated by Anthea Bell. (Candlewick. $17.99. ISBN 978-0763644505)

THE WIZARD OF RONDO. Emily Rodda. (Scholastic. $16.99. ISBN 978-0545115162)

WOMBAT WALKABOUT. Carol Diggory Shields. Illustrated by Sophie Blackall. (Dutton. $16.99. ISBN 978-0525478652)

WONDERLAND. Tommy Kovac. Illustrated by Sonny Liew. (Disney. $19.99. ISBN 978-1423104513)

THE YANKEE AT THE SEDER. Elka Weber. Illustrated by Adam Gustavson. (Tricycle. $16.99. ISBN 978-1582462561)

THE YEAR THE SWALLOWS CAME EARLY. Kathryn Fitzmaurice . (Harper. $16.99. ISBN 978-0061624971)

YOU ARE THE FIRST KID ON MARS. Patrick O’Brien. Illustrated by Patrick O’Brien. (Putnam. $16.99. ISBN 978-0399246340)

THE YOUNG INFERNO. John Agard. Illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura. (Frances Lincoln. $19.95. ISBN 978-1845077693)

YOUNG SAMURAI: THE WAY OF THE WARRIOR. Chris Bradford. (Disney-Hyperion. $16.99. ISBN 978-1423118718)

YUM YUM! WHAT FUN! Mara Bergman. Illustrated by Nick Maland. (Greenwillow. $17.99. ISBN 978-0061688607)

ZENITH. Julie Bertagna. (Walker. $16.99. ISBN 978-0802798039)

ZERO IS THE LEAVES ON THE TREE. Betsy Franco. Illustrated by Shino Arihara. (Tricycle. $15.99. ISBN 978-1582462496)

A Day Alone


Josie Leavitt - October 12, 2009

Because of our staff vacation schedule, I recently found myself working alone this past Saturday. Generally, working solo for an eight-hour shift is not something I look forward to, but I found the day surprisingly energizing.

Saturday, while a busy day customer-wise, is generally not fraught with massive UPS shipments and a phone that rings off the hook, so it’s easier to really just be there to provide customer service. It’s easy with staff as capable as ours, to not work on the floor as often as maybe I should. Working alone, on a crazy-busy day, forced me to help everyone who walked in the store.

I had no one to punt to when the six-year-old came in wanting recommendations for the books about the Revolutionary War. I worked with that little boy until we came up with the just the right book that had him skipping to his father in historical glee. Several people needed presents wrapped, so I was wrapping and ringing folks up at the same time. It felt a lot like Christmas there was so much going on. This kind of busy-ness makes a store feel vital.

Yes, I own the store and go in there every day, but I often forget to *see* the store. There is something about being responsible for the store for the whole day that makes me see it as a customer would. Is there a section that needs some refreshing? For some reason, when I work with staff, the messes just get tidied up; our staff is good and very attuned to what needs to happen. When I am alone, I know the only one who will clean up after the family of six that left a trail of multi-colored goldfish crackers throughout the picture section, is me.  
While I didn’t have time to make an order, I did make notes on what sections look really bare, and what sections need to have returns pulled. And while Saturday was great fun, I was thrilled to have Sandy work with me on Sunday so I could get some of the returns done. And I didn’t have any crackers to clean up.

What Poems Make Good Readings at Weddings?


Alison Morris - October 9, 2009

When Gareth and I decided to use poems for each of the readings in our wedding ceremony, we struggled, at first, to find ones we liked that were well-suited to the occasion but not overused. After I spent a lot of time collecting possible contenders from a range of sources, though, we found ourselves in the opposite position: there were now too many poems we wanted to include in some fashion. 

So, I took both the poems we used in our ceremony AND some that didn’t make the read-aloud cut, and I incorporated them all into the decorations for our reception hall. How? See the poetry sign in the terrible) photo above? In a former life it was an outdated easel-back promotional sign for (you guessed it!) a book. Take a few promo signs, add some pretty papers + poetry, and voila! Beautiful, CHEAP decorations to augment your guest book table, your gift table, the bar, the mantle over the fireplace, and so on. The bonus is that you’re providing your guests with some great reading material too.

Pasted below are the poems that made their way into our ceremony and/or onto the newly recycled signs I created. Are there other poems you think would’ve make good companions to these? Poems you think are especially well-suited to weddings? If so, please share! Poetry lovers and future brides might all make fruitful use of your suggestions.

*************************

The Master Speed
by Robert Frost

No speed of wind or water rushing by
But you have speed far greater. You can climb
Back up a stream of radiance to the sky,
And back through history up the stream of time.
And you were given this swiftness, not for haste,
Nor chiefly that you may go where you will,
But in the rush of everything to waste,
That you may have the power of standing still —
Off any still or moving thing you say.
Two such as you with such a master speed
Cannot be parted nor be swept away
From one another once you are agreed
That life is only life forevermore
Together wing to wing and oar to oar. 

*************************

Pathways
by Rainer Maria Rilke

Understand, I’ll slip quietly
away from the noisy crowd
when I see the pale
stars rising, blooming, over the oaks.

I’ll pursue solitary pathways
through the pale twilit meadows,
with only this one dream:
You come too. 

*************************

To My Valentine
by Ogden Nash

More than a catbird hates a cat,
Or a criminal hates a clue,
Or the Axis hates the United States,
That’s how much I love you.

I love you more than a duck can swim,
And more than a grapefruit squirts,
I love you more than a gin rummy is a bore,
And more than a toothache hurts.

As a shipwrecked sailor hates the sea,
Or a juggler hates a shove,
As a hostess detests unexpected guests,
That’s how much you I love.

I love you more than a wasp can sting,
And more than the subway jerks,
I love you as much as a beggar needs a crutch,
And more than a hangnail irks.

I swear to you by the stars above,
And below, if such there be,
As the High Court loathes perjurious oathes,
That’s how you’re loved by me. 

*************************

At a Window
by Carl Sandburg

Give me hunger,
O you gods that sit and give
The world its orders.
Give me hunger, pain and want,
Shut me out with shame and failure
From your doors of gold and fame,
Give me your shabbiest, weariest hunger!

But leave me a little love,
A voice to speak to me in the day end,
A hand to touch me in the dark room
Breaking the long loneliness.
In the dusk of day-shapes
Blurring the sunset,
One little wandering, western star
Thrust out from the changing shores of shadow.
Let me go to the window,
Watch there the day-shapes of dusk
And wait and know the coming
Of a little love. 

*************************

The Saint’s First Wife Said
by G. E. Patterson

I woke to your face not looking at me
but at the bird that settled on your wrist,
lured by food. Its trust, for once, was rewarded.
You offered the bird everything you had.

I remember. That is how it began
with us: You held out your hand; I took it. 

*************************

Superbly Situated
by Robert Hershon

you politely ask me not to die and i promise not to
right from the beginning—a relationship based on
good sense and thoughtfulness in little things

i would like to be loved for such simple attainments
as breathing regularly and not falling down too often
or because my eyes are brown or my father left-handed

and to be on the safe side i wouldn’t mind if somehow
i became entangled in your perception of admirable objects
so you might say to yourself: i have recently noticed

how superbly situated the empire state building is
how it looms up suddenly behind cemeteries and rivers
so far away you could touch it—therefore i love you

part of me fears that some moron is already plotting
to tear down the empire state building and replace it
with a block of staten island mother/daughter houses

just as part of me fears that if you love me for my cleanliness
i will grow filthy if you admire my elegant clothes
i’ll start wearing shirts with sailboats on them

but i have decided to become a public beach an opera house
a regularly scheduled flight—something that can’t help being
in the right place at the right time—come take your seat

we’ll raise the curtain fill the house start the engines
fly off into the sunrise, the spire of the empire state
the last sight on the horizon as the earth begins to curve 

*************************

Coming Home
by Mary Oliver

When we’re driving, in the dark,
on the long road
to Provincetown, which lies empty
for miles, when we’re weary,
when the buildings
and the scrub pines lose
their familiar look,
I imagine us rising
from the speeding car,
I imagine us seeing
everything from another place — the top
of one of the pale dunes
or the deep and nameless
fields of the sea —
and what we see is the world
that cannot cherish us
but which we cherish,
and what we see is our life
moving like that,
along the dark edges
of everything — the headlights
like lanterns
sweeping the blackness —
believing in a thousand
fragile and unprovable things,
looking out for sorrow,
slowing down for happiness,
making all the right turns
right down to the thumping
barriers to the sea,
the swirling waves,
the narrow streets, the houses,
the past, the future,
the doorway that belongs
to you and me. 

*************************

Litany
by Billy Collins

"You are the bread and the knife,
The crystal goblet and the wine . . ."
Jacques Crickillon

You are the bread and the knife,
the crystal goblet and the wine.
You are the dew on the morning grass
and the burning wheel of t
he
sun.
You are the white apron of the baker
and the marsh birds suddenly in flight.

However, you are not the wind in the orchard,
the plums on the counter,
or the house of cards.
And you are certainly not the pine-scented air.
There is just no way you are the pine-scented air.

It is possible that you are the fish under the bridge,
maybe even the pigeon on the general’s head,
but you are not even close
to being the field of cornflowers at dusk.

And a quick look in the mirror will show
that you are neither the boots in the corner
nor the boat asleep in its boathouse.

It might interest you to know,
speaking of the plentiful imagery of the world,
that I am the sound of rain on the roof.

I also happen to be the shooting star,
the evening paper blowing down an alley,
and the basket of chestnuts on the kitchen table.

I am also the moon in the trees
and the blind woman’s tea cup.
But don’t worry, I am not the bread and the knife.
You are still the bread and the knife.
You will always be the bread and the knife,
not to mention the crystal goblet and—somehow—the wine. 

*************************

This Marriage
by Rumi

This marriage be wine with halvah, honey dissolving in milk.
This marriage be the leaves and fruit of a date tree.
This marriage be women laughing together for days on end.
This marriage, a sign for us to study.
This marriage, beauty.
This marriage, a moon in a light-blue sky.
This marriage, this silence fully mixed with spirit. 

*************************

Begin
by Brendan Kennelly

Begin again to the summoning birds
to the sight of light at the window,
begin to the roar of morning traffic
all along Pembroke Road.
Every beginning is a promise
born in light and dying in dark
determination and exaltation of springtime
flowering the way to work.
Begin to the pageant of queuing girls
the arrogant loneliness of swans in the canal
bridges linking the past and the future
old friends passing through with us still.
Begin to the loneliness that cannot end
since it perhaps is what makes us begin,
begin to wonder at unknown faces
at crying birds in the sudden rain
at branches stark in the willing sunlight
at seagulls foraging for bread
at couples sharing a sunny secret
alone together while making good.
Though we live in a world that dreams of ending
that always seems about to give in
something that will not acknowledge conclusion
insists that we forever begin. 

*************************

from The Gift
by Hafiz of Shiraz

Even after all this time
the sun never says
to the earth,
"You owe me."

Look what happens
with a love like that –
it lights the whole sky. 

*************************

All I Want to Say
by Linda Pastan

"A painter can say all he wants to with fruit or flowers or even clouds." -Edouard Manet

When I pass you this bowl
of Winesaps, do I want to say:
here are some rosy spheres
of love, or lust—emblems
of all the moments after Eden
when a pinch of the forbidden
was like spice on that first apple?
Or do I simply mean: I’m sorry,
I was busy today; fruit is all
there is for dessert.

And when you picked
a single bloom from the fading bush
outside our window,
were you saying that I am somehow
like a flower, or deserving of flowers?
Were you saying
anything flowery at all?
Or simply: here is the last rose
of November, please
put it in water.

As for clouds,
as for those white, voluptuous
abstractions floating overhead,
they are not camels or pillows
or even the snowy peaks
of half-imagined mountains.
They are the pure shapes
of silence, and they are
saying exactly
what I want to say. 

*************************

From Blossoms
by Li-Young Lee

From blossoms comes
this brown paper bag of peaches
we bought from the boy
at the bend in the road where we turned toward
signs painted Peaches.

From laden boughs, from hands,
from sweet fellowship in the bins,
comes nectar at the roadside, succulent
peaches we devour, dusty skin and all,
comes the familiar dust of summer, dust we eat.

O, to take what we love inside,
to carry within us an orchard, to eat
not only the skin, but the shade,
not only the sugar, but the days, to hold
the fruit in our hands, adore it, then bite into
the round jubilance of peach.

There are days we live
as if death were nowhere
in the background; from joy
to joy to joy, from wing to wing,
from blossom to blossom to
impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom. 

*************************

26
by Emily Dickinson

It’s all I have to bring today –
This, and my heart beside –
This, and my heart, and all the fields –
And all the meadows wide –
Be sure you count – should I forget
Some one the sum could tell –
This, and my heart, and all the Bees
Which in the Clover dwell. 

*************************

Invitation to Love
by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Come when the nights are bright with stars
Or when the moon is mellow;
Come when the sun his golden bars
Drops on the hay-field yellow.
Come in the twilight soft and gray,
Come in the night or come in the day,
Come, O love, whene’er you may,
And you are welcome, welcome.

You are sweet, O Love, dear Love,
You are soft as the nesting dove.
Come to my heart and bring it rest
As the bird flies home to its welcome nest.

Come when my heart is full of grief
Or when my heart is merry;
Come with the falling of the leaf
Or with the redd’ning cherry.
Come when the year’s first blossom blows,
Come when the summer gleams and glows,
Come with the winter’s drifting snows,
And you are welcome, welcome. 

*************************

Love Song
by William Carlos Williams

Sweep the house clean,
hang fresh curtains
in the windows
put on a new dress
and come with me!
The elm is scattering
its little loaves
of sweet smells
from a white sky!

Who shall hear of us
in the time to come?
Let him say there was
a burst of fragrance
from black branches. 

*************************

by Izumi Shikibu

No different, really —
a summer firefly’s
visible burning
and this body,
transformed by love. 

*************************

Someday Some Morning Sometime
by Woody Guthrie

Someday some morning sometime, sometime
I’d like to hold your hand in mine
Someday some morning sometime

I’d like to tell you you’re pretty and fine
Your face will smile and your eyes will shine
Someday some morning sometime

I’ll build you a house all covered in vines
I’ll bring you a nickel, I’ll bring you a dime,
Someday some morning sometime

Five six seven and eight oh nine
I’ll take you down where the birds fly by
Someday some morning sometime 

*************************

Th
e Lanyard
by Billy Collins

The other day I was ricocheting slowly
off the blue walls of this room,
moving as if underwater from typewriter to piano,
from bookshelf to an envelope lying on the floor,
when I found myself in the L section of the dictionary
where my eyes fell upon the word lanyard.

No cookie nibbled by a French novelist
could send one into the past more suddenly—
a past where I sat at a workbench at a camp
by a deep Adirondack lake
learning how to braid long thin plastic strips
into a lanyard, a gift for my mother.

I had never seen anyone use a lanyard
or wear one, if that’s what you did with them,
but that did not keep me from crossing
strand over strand again and again
until I had made a boxy
red and white lanyard for my mother.

She gave me life and milk from her breasts,
and I gave her a lanyard.
She nursed me in many a sick room,
lifted spoons of medicine to my lips,
laid cold face-cloths on my forehead,
and then led me out into the airy light

and taught me to walk and swim,
and I, in turn, presented her with a lanyard.
Here are thousands of meals, she said,
and here is clothing and a good education.
And here is your lanyard, I replied,
which I made with a little help from a counselor.

Here is a breathing body and a beating heart,
strong legs, bones and teeth,
and two clear eyes to read the world, she whispered,
and here, I said, is the lanyard I made at camp.
And here, I wish to say to her now,
is a smaller gift—not the worn truth

that you can never repay your mother,
but the rueful admission that when she took
the two-tone lanyard from my hand,
I was as sure as a boy could be
that this useless, worthless thing I wove
out of boredom would be enough to make us even.

A Holiday Gift You Can Start Selling Now


Elizabeth Bluemle - October 8, 2009

I have been waiting to write this blog post since May, when we first saw the book, and now that it’s here, I finally can. Julie Andrews’ Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies has finally hit the shelves, and it’s going to be a holiday gift-giving dynamo, certainly at The Flying Pig.

Every holiday season, we choose our go-to book, the must-have selection that parents and grandparents will love adding to the family library. (This year, we have three picks; the other two will be revealed in future posts.)

The book itself is lovely, with art by James McMullan, the noted children’s book illustrator (I Stink!) who also happens to have designed more than 75 posters for Lincoln Center. (I suppose this is what’s meant by an illustrious career. Ba-dum-bump.) The paintings are gentle and varied, and numerous; I believe Mr. McMullan said he surprised himself with this project, painting more watercolors than he thought possible in the time frame allotted for the project.

To choose the poems and songs, Ms. Andrews and daughter Emma Walton Hamilton sifted through hundreds of their own favorite verses. There are poems and songs from enduring favorite authors, accompanied by reminiscences of how and why they were chosen. Andrews herself (as well as a few family members) also wrote a number of the poems; she remains one of the scant handful of celebrity children’s book authors with a true gift for writing. “In our family, we write poems for each other as gifts,” Andrews says, and it’s partly this lifelong involvement with poetry and song that gives the book such a warm, personal feel.

During BEA, dozens of lucky booksellers had the pleasure of meeting all three creators and hearing them talk about the making of the book. The collaboration was clearly a happy one all the way around, and the mutual respect and affection between mother and daughter filled the room with joy.

Both Ms. Andrews and Ms. Hamilton are performers and brought their love of music and poetry, rhythm, cadence and theatre to the choices—the selections all make fantastic read-alouds. The hands-down highlight of the visit was hearing Ms. Andrews and Ms. Hamilton do just that: read poetry aloud to a room full of adults, all of whom became enchanted children for a few delicious moments. Their rendition of “The King’s Breakfast” by A.A. Milne was so funny and so brilliantly read aloud we would have stood up and cheered if we hadn’t been on our best behavior. Instead, we gave them a seated standing ovation.

Of course, we’re all familiar with Julie Andrews’ prodigious performance talent, but Ms. Hamilton was a revelation—hilarious and sharp and terrific with accents; she could give Jim Dale a run for his money in the audiobook world. Heads up, alert publishers.

Although it might be easy to lose one’s critical faculties in the wake of such a rare and special event, I’m happy to report that the book meets its promise in the cold clear light of a book buyer and poetry lover’s evaluation. The volume is organized into nine themes—All Things Bright and Beautiful, Accentuate the Positive, Growing Up, Bedtime Blessing, Talk to the Animals, Sea Fever, Laughing Song, Leisure, and The Wonderful World—and the selections are worthy of a family’s repeated readings over many years. Perhaps best of all, the book includes a CD of Ms. Andrews and/or Ms. Hamilton reading 21 poems on the accompanying CD. This is definitely one that booksellers can recommend without reservation.

Thank you, Hachette, not only for the lovely book, but for one of the shining experiences in my life as a bookseller: the chance to meet—no, not the actress Julie Andrews, but the author of my favorite book growing up, The Last of the Really Whangdoodles. I brought my sacred, battered, cocoa-speckled, jacketless copy (at right)—which has moved with me from Arizona to California to New York City to Vermont—and I managed to find a quiet moment to ask for her signature. With her characteristic graciousness, she agreed, holding the book and looking at it for a long moment, as though seeing an old friend after many years. As we chatted, she leafed through the pages (several with their corners torn off; I’m afraid I nibbled them at tense moments of the story) with an expression I couldn’t quite interpret, but seemed nostalgic and deeply thoughtful. Perhaps she was revisiting the early days of the book, and thinking about having written something so long ago that readers still treasure more than 30 years later. 

I suspect that with this new collection, she has done it again.

A Co-op Idea


Josie Leavitt - October 6, 2009

Okay, so Elizabeth and I, newly inspired from the annual Trade Show, were talking about future educational seminars, and the idea of co-op came up, as always. I thought we could have a session where we go in-depth about what each publisher requires to get co-op. I was thinking a downloadable spreadsheet that had all the publisher contact info requirements. Then Elizabeth said, "Wouldn’t it be nice if the publishers all had the same co-op form? Like the college common application?"

Wow! What a brilliant idea. What would happen, say, if all the major publishers made it easier for bookstores, large and small (especially smalll, who can’t afford to have someone on staff to just do co-op) to claim co-op? I know it’s easy to claim co-op from some publishers, and not so easy from others. I think a universal co-op form would be an outstanding idea, and it would get a lot of stores to order more backlist. It could be a win-win for all involved. I mean, if Harvard and Yale can share an application, why can’t the major publishing houses?

A Little More NEIBA News


Josie Leavitt - October 5, 2009

Now that I’m home from NEIBA’s annual trade show, I have a few thoughts and some photos.

First off, I am always amazed how much fun it is to spend time with all my bookselling colleagues from New England. I look forward to each panel as much for the friends as I do for the education. Ideas are born over sharing a meal and a drink, or two. I leave the show floor exhausted but full of energy for the selling season that’s coming up.

Hartford… well, what can I say? Not the most exciting city in New England. I loved the Convention Center, although the singular lack of real food options was shocking. In fact, my biggest quip with having the show in Hartford again is the food: there is none. Nowhere within walking distance can a sandwich be purchased; you can’t even get a hot dog on the trade show floor. There was no easy protein anywhere. I was shocked at this, and hungry much of Saturday. Thank goodness for the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt lunch or we’d all have starved and gotten headaches. The Marriott was lovely and couldn’t have been more convenient, and it wasn’t too expensive, which was nice.

Now that I’m not paying per minute for computer time, and I can upload the photos from the children’s dinner.

This is the lovely Vicky Uminowicz and Kenny Brechner (Man of NECBA and star of his own calendar) at the end of the dinner. Kenny is already wistful about the good old days of being NECBA Co-chair. Vicky looks downright thrilled to have moved on.

The same can’t be said of speaker Shannon Hale. Acutally, I’m not sure why she’s strangling herself: her speech was lovely.  

I am eager to hear about trade shows this weekend. If you’d like to share a highlight, please feel free to add a comment. I’m already looking forward to the Winter Institute so I can see all my friends again.

NEIBA, Thus Far


Josie Leavitt - October 2, 2009

Okay, I must confess: I’m late for the breakfast with Mary Karr, Anita Shreve and Sarah Vowell. And I’m paying by the minute for computer time because I poured a beer in my laptop, and it’s not back from the tech guys. (Miraculously, it survived — well, the keys S, E, W, D didn’t make it, so I’m getting a new keyboard.) I will have a more complete post on Monday, with photos, but here’s a teaser about the show.

The New England Book Awards Luncheon was really good. It’s the first time I’ve been to one and it was quite moving. The rep of the year, Roger Saganario (who was my rep, back in the day), was gracious and thoughtful about indies; Sy Montgomery won for non-fiction and she said it’s funny that she’s often introduced in the same breath with pirahnas and scat. Andrew Clements, the children’s winner, said what scares him is "What’s next?" I don’t think he needs to worry, he’s written over 50 books, he seems to have a lot of imagination and a deep pool of ideas. Ward Just got the most laughs by saying, "No one’s gotten rich selling Ward Just books, including Ward Just." Geraldine Brooks, the adult winner, pretty made everyone tear up with a simple story of a tombstone she visits on Martha’s Vineyard. She was charming, funny and honestly, I loved her jacket. Tilbury House won in the publishing category, and I loved the call to promote not only local indies but regional publishers as well.

The panel about recommended books for the holidays was a whirlwind of great titles, far too many to list here. What intrigued me the most were the different handselling styles I saw. I picked up tips from each presenter.

The highlight of the day was the Children’s Dinner. The speakers were Shaun Tan, Shannon Hale and Mo Willems. The funniest part of the dinner, frankly, wasn’t a presenter, but Kenny Brechner’s fabulous joke about not being able to sell The Men of NECBA calendar, which featured only him for every month. Shaun Tan spoke about how he’s always drawn. He showed drawings he did as a child and it’s no wonder he’s so good. The cat he drew as a six-year-old was pretty stunning.

Shannon Hale was next and I had the pleasure of introducing her. She is wonderful. She also had a Power Point presentation about her life. But it started off with pictures of famous children’s writers and Shannon just in the frame of every photo. Clearly, she had fun setting up these "stalking" pictures. She did cry, and then stuck her tongue out at me, even though I did not make her cry — the quote she read made her cry. Shannon tears up easily, and that’s actually pretty darned charming. She said she starts writing by asking questions. I love hearing authors talk about their work. It’s a privilege glimpse inside their minds and see how they create.

Mo Willems closed out the evening and he taught us how to draw his famous pigeon, which is far easier than I thought it would be. There is a reason for this: "I like to make sure all my characters can be drawn by a five-year-old." Mo told two very funny stories that actually didn’t have anything with writing books, and we laughed and then went home with some yummy books all signed by the authors.

More later….

How to Have a Successful Author Event (Part 1)


Josie Leavitt - October 1, 2009

Author events are the backbone of my store. While every event may not be as well attended as I’d like, every year my top 50 bestselling books are from in-store events. What follows is a preliminary top 10 list of what needs to happen to make an event a success.

1. Confirm with the author, and/or publicist a week before the event. This might sound elemental, but twice this year we’ve had whoopsies with authors either getting the date wrong, or forgetting about the event because it was booked six months earlier. This works both ways, unfortunately; we forgot a stock signing that was to occur the same day we left town for our only week-long vacation of the year. Trust us, you do NOT want this to happen at your bookstore. So publicists, it’s a good idea to check in with your scheduled stops a week or two ahead. This kills two birds with one stone: confirming the event and double-checking that the store has all the books they need with enough advance time to spare. Bookselling isn’t rocket science, but it is filled with minutiae and orders coming in and customers needing a hundred things a day, etc., so things do slip through the cracks occasionally.

2. Try to have a day of the week for your events. For us it’s kids’ events on Saturday mornings and adult events on Thursday nights. This lets folks know that these are days they want to keep open. Few book groups in town meet on Thursdays now, because it always conflicts with our adult events.

3. Make sure to send press releases well in advance of the event. Newspapers need at least three weeks, more often six, to actually do something with a press release. Be respectful of their deadlines and they’ll be much more likely to run your release. Don’t forget to do calendar listings with all papers. Sometimes this is a separate department from the press release folks. Don’t assume a press release will get a calendar listing automatically.

4. Don’t know how to write a press release? Learn. They’re not hard and most releases should only be a page, so it’s not rocket science. Often the publisher will have materials ready for you to tweak to your situation, so it’s really not hard.

5. The minute we book an event, the first thing I do is ask the author, publicist or whomever I booked the event with, to send me a high-resolution author photo and book cover, as well as any press materials they might have. Once I have the materials, I pass them off to Elizabeth who updates the website. As soon as the confirmation is emailed, add the event to your website. This kind of speed pleases the publishers and makes you look more professional. 

6. Make a flyer of your monthly events. We do several different sizes: some for the display window, the rest 8½ x 11 for customers to take away. And, if we’ve got time, we’ll make a calendar strip that can get tucked in every bag with purchase. Our flyers are full-color. This makes a difference, and if you plan ahead, you can get co-op for it, so it pays for itself.

7. Set-up an in-store display several weeks before the event. We have a great display table right as you walk in and we have all of our monthly author event books on display, with shelftalkers in them announcing the date of the event. Also let people know they can get a book signed without attending the event. 

8. Talk up the event to customers who are buying books by that author. Also, chat it up with folks who are buying similar books. Never underestimate the power of one person saying to another, "Hey, this really interesting author is going to be here on Thursday…"

9. Don’t forget to order the books in time! This might sound silly, but there have been times when even the best bookseller gets jammed up and either forgets to order or gets the order in too late and the books arrive the day of the event. Make friends with the other indies in your area. It’s really great to be able to send out an alarm of, "Help, I need books!" and have folks come to your aid. I always order more than I’ll likely sell because it looks nice for the author to see a lot of books, and they’re returnable. Don’t forget to order the author’s backlist titles. They sell well and it makes you look like a very confident bookseller by having it. 

10. Treat the author with respect. Don’t leave them alone in the event space to greet customers themselves. Make sure you have enough staff on hand so someone can be with the author. Have something for the author to drink (I always ask the publicist when the event gets booked if the author has a beverage preference). Also, a gift at the end of the event is not only polite but the right thing to do. 

This is the beginning of a longer list of author event tips. Keep watching as we add more to it. And please feel free to add your ideas to this list. I’m always looking for tips on having smoother events.