The Scholastic Summer Reading Roadtrip winged its way to the Flying Pig yesterday and many children came to enjoy this amazingly fun event. This event seemingly went off without a hitch when the doors opened and the kids arrived. As so often is the case with events, there was much craziness before this one started that was all sorted out in the nick of time. Events are complex creatures that have many moving parts, and when one part is suddenly out of line, there can be a domino effect that creates mild to moderate chaos. This event had several things that were stress-inducing, chief among them were guessing at the weather and a building issue that raised safety concerns. Continue reading →

One thing that’s hard about celebrity spotting at the bookstore is that we can’t divulge names without violating our customers’ privacy, so we have to tell our stories with a little scrim in front of the most salient details. Still, I can’t resist sharing an anecdote from this week, because I come off like such an ass in it that I am still laughing and kicking myself in equal measure.
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I have had an Orb Summoner for over a year. The Librarian of Years gave it to me when I asked her whether any of her colleagues read books well on into the future.  “Ah,” she said, “only The Orb reads deep into the future, she is our seeress. Here is an Orb Summoner. It will go off if she is willing to speak with you about a book on the distant horizon.”
As of this morning it had never once lit. I happened to be staring at the Orb on my desk, actively wondering whether the Librarian had simply fobbed me off with a placebo of sorts, when it began to glow. I looked into the Orb and the Seer looked back!
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As we get ready for the release of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the end of the month, we have spent a lot of time at the bookstore thinking about how best to get ready for this momentous event. Are we planning a midnight release party? Yes! Have we done press releases about said event? Heck yeah! Have we ordered the books? Of course! In all the party planning we have spent more time on one question than other: what Hogwarts House would bookstore staffers be sorted into? Laura is the staffer most behind this question, because she’s given it more thought than anyone else at the store. We have spent long lunches discussing the merits of each house and who should be where. Continue reading →

For the past two months, I’ve laid down a challenge — an invitation — to ShelfTalker readers: join me in trying to read one book every day, in any genre, for the month. In May, I did well. In June, not so well. It wasn’t so much that I didn’t read, although a West Wing binge did cut into my nighttime page counts, but more that I neglected to record my books. My fellow challenge-takers, however, did beautifully in June! Caitlin King is the Grand Prize Winner for June – and as such, gets to request an advance reading copy of a book she has been eager to read. (Caitlin, you can email your request to me at ebluemle at publishers weekly dot you know the rest.) Kudos also to Megan G. and Betsy W.! You are also welcome to request ARCs, and I will do my best to get them for you. I will also vow to do better at recording the books I’ve read this month!
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