It’s not every day that I gather my staff to play. Usually staff meetings are information-sharing affairs that can be enjoyable, but seldom would anyone call them fun. Yesterday was different.
At BEA last week we were inspired to go look at a new toy company, Blue Orange. This company is one of the hot toy companies that all our bookstore colleagues were raving about. Elizabeth went to their booth and then spent half an hour texting me about our previously agreed upon budget and how it was just too low. Well, several hundred dollars later above budget, the order was made. I thought that would be the end of it until we received the order.
Little did I know that Blue Orange was going to come to the store and teach the staff how to play their games. What a great idea. It’s one thing to be able to talk about a game, but it’s an entirely different thing to tell customers how much fun you had playing the game. Florian, a lovely young man from Blue Orange, arrived at 8:3o yesterday for our staff meeting. I must say, there were some staffers who wondered if this meeting was mandatory, as they weren’t sure of its purpose. By the end of the first game, all were converted and all were ready to win.
We played every game we had ordered, asking questions along the way and thinking out loud about different ways to handsell the games. We played Trigger, a seemingly simple game of answering true or false questions using your right hand or left hand to hit the “trigger” depending on your answer. I don’t listen well, and that was abundantly apparent during the game. I was wrong often and if that weren’t bad enough, my dyslexia had me using the wrong hand for my answers. It was funny and by paying attention to our mistakes, we could better see what might be hard for kids, and adults, about some games.
The fun continued through rounds of Yamslam, a Yahtzee-type game that is full of strategy. One thing that was really interesting about playing all these games was to see who on staff was really competitive and who was happy to just play. We laughed a lot and all of us wanted to take more turns with each game. The game that proved to be the most challenging, for me at least, was Sumoku, a numbers-based game that is a lot like the word game Bananagrams. The fun of this game is it’s wonderful for folks who don’t really like word games, or can’t read yet. I’m not good at math, so I found this oddly challenging, but I can’t wait to play it with my family this summer.
The game that was a lot of fun for all us to play was Gobblet Gobblers, a tic-tac-toe game that allows you to take your opponent’s piece and to cover their piece with your piece. Basically, the very simple game of tic-tac-toe has been elevated to a much higher level of thought than what you’ve ever played. A memory game called Pengoloo revealed the real nature of all of us. You can steal the penguin of another player if the egg under the penguin body is the color you need. Most of us hesitated to steal penguins, except one of us. She stole with glee and a sense of “this is how you play the game.” We all just about howled. After the ever-patient Florian left, we all started talking about having our first ever Game Night at the store. Just in time for summer, and with all the rain we’ve had, people would do well to stock up on fun games the whole family can play.
Everyone left the meeting happy, laughing and thinking about what games they wanted to add to their family toy chest. I left the meeting thinking about other ways to make staff meetings this much fun all the time.

I was thrilled to see Laurie Halse Anderson last week at the Children’s Auction. She looked marvelous in her flowing gown and was delightful as always. The week of BEA was a book-filled blur that had most of us miss the blow-by-blow devastation that occurred in Joplin, Missouri because of an enormous tornado.
When I returned home I saw something from Laurie on my Facebook feed. She had started a contest to help the folks of Joplin. Her contest was simple: donate to the Red Cross via the Ozark chapter website and for every ten dollars you donate, your name would get thrown in a hat for a chance to have Laurie critique a manuscript of yours, up to 400 pages. Okay, so how cool is that? I don’t even have a manuscript for Laurie to look at and I gave money just because it’s such a wonderful idea. And it’s selfless.
So far, with the contest six hours from finishing, it looks like she’s helped raised over $4,000. I can’t believe it. One person’s great idea, a massive Facebook following (Laurie has almost 5,000 friends) and people who perhaps needed a nudge to give have created tremendous results.
This reminds me in some way of what Carrie Jones and Megan Kelley Hall did last year when they responded to a teen’s suicide, not by lamenting, but by starting a group: Young Adult Authors Against Bullying. I blogged about it last year. And now, just months later, the book, Dear Bully, an anthology with contributions from more than 70 authors, is coming out in August.
Writers are in unique positions to create change. And I’m thrilled that writers such as Laurie Halse Anderson, Megan Kelley Hall and Carrie Jones are giving of themselves to make the world a better place for folks who’ve suffered unbelievable tragedies or daily torments we’ll never know about. I am glad I made a donation to the folks of Joplin and I can’t wait to sell Dear Bully when it comes out. I am not a writer, but I can support writers who are making decisions to reach outside themselves and do what they can to make the world a little easier for folks they haven’t even met.

BEA is over and done with for 2011, and, as they say in school yearbooks, it was a pretty wild ride. So many books and book people gathered in one place always makes for an exhilarating literary lovefest, and there were lots of noteworthy events and moments and discoveries that made the trade show well worth the cost and time away from our bookstores. This week, Josie and I will be sharing some of our favorite BEA events.
One strange item about this year’s show: books themselves seemed to be on hiatus from some booths at BEA. Galleys were under lock and key in many booths, and a couple of publishers didn’t display ANY printed books in their booths whatsoever. I can sympathize with wanting to curb the enormous expense of giving away free ARCs, but to not have any display copies of fall titles on hand is just… downright eerie. It will be interesting to see if this trend dies out or expands to other houses at next year’s show.
Happily, both books and authors were on display during Tuesday’s Speed Dating with Children’s Authors and Illustrators event, sponsored by the ABC Children’s Group at ABA and the Children’s Book Council. This was the fourth year of an extremely popular event that gives a roomful of children’s booksellers and librarians the opportunity to meet almost a score of our field’s wonderful children’s book creators.

This year’s slate included both established stars and debut novelists, who gamely moved from table to table every five minutes or so for an hour and a half, introducing themselves and their newest books to participants. That’s a challenge even for seasoned public speakers, and I was impressed by how well the authors and illustrators — who are often very private people with tendencies toward introversion — kept their energy high and their talks as lively at the last table as at the first. Kudos all around, and a special appreciation for the Children’s Book Council and ABA folks who ran a well-organized event.

If you couldn’t get a ticket (this event has filled up every year since it began in 2007), here’s your chance to see these folks and their new titles!

The second full day of BEA is over and things are good. The crowds don’t seem to be as crushing as I feared and the overall attendance seems smaller than in years past. The galley piles are as smaller as well.
One thing several booksellers are talking about are the lack of galleys compared to past years. Many publishers seem to be releasing galleys, much like timed vaults, on a very tight schedule linked to booth signings. To be fair to the publishers, at every meeting I’ve had, I have seen attendees literally move furniture out of the way to get to the galleys that are clearly not intended to be on the floor yet. Some booths are bereft of books at all. Walls of booths adorned only with posters of books and nothing to actually hold or look at. I asked a publishing friend what was going on and he said the drayage charges were so much that they just couldn’t afford to bring in all the books.
While there may not be as many galleys, there certainly are people who found a ton to ship back. I’m always amazed at the sheer number of boxes waiting to be shipped. The shipping room was full of hundreds of boxes that needed to get home. I just traveled light and left a little room in my suitcase for the carefully chosen galleys I have selected. But to be really honest, I will be be availing myself of the hotel business office to ship back some books.
This year is the first year that I have actually set up meetings with publishers. Our 15th anniversary is this fall and I wanted to meet publicists and let them know that northern Vermont can be a great place to send authors. So far, these meetings have been really productive. It’s an eye-opener for me to see what each publishers focuses on. Some focus on driving audience to an event, some focus on book sales. All were happily surprised to see how many Vermont stores can be covered in a weekend. The only thing lacking from my publisher packet was a map, which is easily remedied with a Mapquest diagram of Vermont and a quick email.
While I was resting my very tired feet in the lovely ABA lounge, I got an answer to my previous question about the Children’s Book Group liaison from Mark Nichols.  A job description has been written and a full-time person should be in place shortly.
The evening party was the annual ABC Not-a-Dinner silent auction that featured many delectable works of children’s art. Sadly, for me, many of the works I wanted, like Elisha Cooper’s Beaver from Beaver Is Lost, were quickly out of my price range. I don’t know how much money the auction raised for ABFFE’s new Children’s Division, but judging by the number people camped out by their art at the closing bell, I’d say most of the art sold and people were gleefully carrying art out of the Javits Center.
While I might complain about the crowds, the lack of actual books and what not, I am reminded at every BEA, when I have dinner with friends, that I love this business and I adore my colleagues.

It’s been one of those on-the-move days from start to finish, from the Children’s Author Breakfast through book signings, appointments with publicists, show floor exploring, awards luncheon, two terrific publisher parties, and dinner with good friends from the book world.
There is no way to do this day justice in the 15 minutes of evening left, so I will post a couple of teaser pictures with the promise that in my next post, I’ll elaborate on the photos and add many, many more. Onward to Wednesday!!

Yesterday was BEA’s Day of Education and what a lovely day it was. I always forget how early booksellers are up and about. I’ll confess that I was late to the Small to Mid-Sized Bookseller Roundtable. Consequently, I missed the gathering of ideas as well as finding a chair.
I didn’t mind standing for an hour and a half, as the conversation was lively and led quite well by Annie Philbrick of Bank Square Books in Mystic, Ct. I walked into a discussion of the Espresso Machine. Not the kind that makes coffee, but rather the one that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars and prints books on demand, in the store. I believe, from what I ascertained, this machine is a pipe dream for all but the largest most profitable stores, so Annie moved the discussion along.
Several topics from this Roundtable were also seen in the Children’s Roundtable. Chief among them: ways to manage technology, i.e., how to tweet at work and still get work done, setting up Facebook pages, updating websites, etc. Several booksellers commented that the best help they’ve had with this is hiring interns from local colleges to help with that. I will say, one bookseller (under 30, I might add) said that no one over 30 does any social media at her store. I felt simultaneously old and proud as I tweet and do Facebook.
No one does newspaper ads anymore. Lost of folks are trying out Groupon or Social Living coupons instead. This is a new marketing arena that isn’t even available to all areas. It was very interesting to hear the mixed results stores have seen with it. Several stores love using it (basically, people pay $10 for $20 off, the store then splits the $10 with the coupon provider) because it brings new customers to the store, but no one know yet if these will be repeat customers. Generally, the mood with these stores was upbeat.
My next session was Selling Non-Books in the Children’s Department. Okay, this was the session about toys. Something funny when booksellers are asked to talk about toys. They get quiet. It’s like no one wants to give away a hot toy or supplier. Someone asked about how to get started with Lego and the panelist (who had just said how well she does with them) wouldn’t answer the question, but said, “See me after.” Well, we all know Lego is tough to get into, but wouldn’t that have been great info to share with the booksellers in the room? Maybe there are just so many hoops to jump through for Lego that it would have taken too long. And when the panel asked about what we were all selling in our stores, not one person raised a hand to share.
What I took from the toy panel wasn’t so much hot new toys, but how to sell them better.  Organizing game nights is something we’ve never done, but it seems like a great idea, and the toy company will help with product and a Game Guru to make the evening fun. We also walked away with a great formula for knowing the right way to mark a toy that comes with a freight charge: divide the shipping by the number of pieces in the shipment, then double the cost (toys don’t come with a standard discount, but are purchased at cost). Very handy.
The day was capped off in a hilarious way by Margaret Atwood. I have to confess, I’m a Margaret Atwood FAN. I’ve read all of her books and was thrilled that she would be speaking to us. I had no idea what she’d be like. She’s funny, not just a little funny, but side-splittingly funny. Her timing is impeccable and she pauses, just like a stand-up comic would, to make the laugh larger. The standing room only crowd was rolling with laughter for the first 10 minutes when she was speaking about her previous BEA experiences.
Her first ABA show (that’s how long ago it was) she was asked to speak for 12 minutes. She received a tape in the mail with side A labeled “Well Received Speeches” and side B labeled, “Not Well Received Speeches.” She was joyful in her presentation meant to soothe anxious booksellers about the current state of the book. Her speech had three parts.
The first was called The Book, Still Afloat. This was accompanied by a hand-drawn cartoon on an old computer scanning card. The point of this section was to remind us that obsolete things can appear to have value and new uses. The second part was entitled Transmission Devices. This featured a drawing of two people using two tin cans and string to speak. Here the most change is occurring. The string in the publishing world includes everyone who deals with the book after it’s written, and that string just gets longer all the time. In the 1960s she hand-wrote, typed, typeset and bound 150 copies of her own book that she then took to bookstores and asked if they would sell it for 50 cents in the magazine section. All the stores said yes. (That was the moment I think all booksellers thought: have I turned away a potential Margaret Atwood? Some great writer who just wants to make books and have me sell them for her?)
The final section was aptly called What’s in the Future? She said, quite astutely, that you can say anything in the future, as long as you don’t put an actual date on it, you can never be wrong. Then she got in a very funny dig at Reverend Camping because the world didn’t end on May 21st as he so fervently predicted. Amid all the laughter, and it was fairly continuous the whole speech, she said that bookstores aren’t here to make money. We’re here to provide a gateway to new books; to provide serendipity; to provide a filter for the millions of books that are available to customers, and lastly to handsell to customer because we read enough and know our customers well enough to make informed guesses about what they might like.
I couldn’t have said it better myself.

You know you REALLY want to read a book when you practically knock a friend out of the way to get to the last copy of an ARC. This happened to me a few weeks ago in Austin, Texas, when author Cate Tiernan brought two copies of Darkness Falls to a writing retreat to give away and there was practically a stampede. I prefer not to reveal my own shockingly greedy behavior, but suffice it to say that, when the dust settled, I had my galley.
In my defense, let me note that Darkness Falls happens to be the sequel to my surprise-favorite YA fantasy of 201o: Immortal Beloved. I inhaled that book in a happy, entertained, riveted gulp. It’s got all the elements of a fabulous read: a snappy main character, lots of dark humor, great brewing romantic tension, an undercurrent of menace and doom, and layers of secrets that unfold throughout the tale. Even better — for all its entertainment value, the underlying theme is substantive and relevant to teens (and adults).
The premise of Immortal Beloved is this: party girl Nastasia — aka Nasty — has grown increasingly tired of her empty, shallow life. She and her pretty-boy friends are Immortals; she’s been alive at least 400 years, and it turns out that no amount of partying can blot out the darkness she’s been trying to run from since an early tragedy. Feeling that she’s at the edge of an abyss, she reluctantly checks herself into a kind of Immortals rehab, every touchy-feely crunchy-granola aspect of which drives her prickly, sarcastic self insane. (Remember Sandra Bullock’s character in 28 Days? Nastasia is like that: guarded, closed-off, funny, and vulnerable as a sea urchin underneath all the spines.)
We featured Immortal Beloved in our annual Pig-Tales review newsletter, and handsold a boatload of them, but it was a tough book to move on its own because the cover and title combine to give the impression of a vaguely epic, lacy romance rather than a sharp, smart, funny paranormal fantasy. (Note to Little, Brown: this book could sell gajillions of copies with the right cover. Pretty please! It’s not that the cover is unattractive; it just doesn’t seem to accurately convey the story and its tone to potential readers.)
Fast forward to Austin, where, after the Texas Library Association meeting, my literary agent had arranged her annual retreat. Turns out that Cate Tiernan is also her client — and I am also not going to reveal the fangirlishness with which I learned that news this winter. So when I finally met Cate—happily, she is a normal person who handles gushing with aplomb—I was torn between gushing about Immortal Beloved and begging for an ARC of Darkness Falls. Because, really, there are some plot threads that are clearly going to be addressed in this sequel, and a romance I must read more about. Plus, I just miss Nastasia and her great big conflicted heart.
The final embarrassment of this story is that, after gobbling up a third of the book (every bit as good as the first so far!) on the way home from Austin, I … um … lost it. Somewhere lies the ARC of Darkness Falls, taunting me from the depths of a stack of galleys in my bedroom, my living room, the office, the store, or — more likely — from the inside of a tote I must have used one day, hung on the back of a chair or set down in the mudroom, and then lost track of.
Which explains why, the minute the doors open to the exhibit floor on Tuesday morning, I will be zipping to the Little, Brown booth, hat in hand, begging for that darned book.
What galleys are YOU dying to get your hands on?

I can’t believe BEA (BookExpo America) is next week. Where has the time gone? I feel like it’s a month earlier than I’m ready for. You wouldn’t think a trade show would be so hard to prepare for, but there’s always a lot to do. The first thing is adapt to some changes; one of the changes is the show floor is now back to open for three days, not just two. One change that I’m nervous about is the shift from having two floors of exhibition hall space to one. Usually, the children’s books are downstairs in their space, and while it might be nice to have the children’s books on the same floor as the adult books, it could make an already crowded floor practically impassable.
I just now sat down and savored the educational offerings on Monday’s chock-full Day of Education. Two of my favorite sessions are the Small and Mid-Size Store and Children’s Roundtables. These are a great way to find solutions to many of the problems bookstore owners encounters every day. Event ideas that I would never have thought of are shared freely and with great excitement. Staffing issues, how to deal with landlords, computer systems and anything else that booksellers encounter every day, but are seldom discussed, are literally on the table.  Really, there’s nothing booksellers like more than to talk about the business of books. I leave the Roundtable inspired and enthused.
There will be discussions of e-books, which frankly, I’m already tired of. I know I should care, but honestly, it just feel like such an uphill battle for indies to get a foothold, that I’m overwhelmed and there are other things I’d rather do.
The session on Strategic Thinking to Create New Business Models translates on to how to stay business and thrive, which is something most bookstores could benefit from. Then there’s the session Turning Mind Share into Market Share in the Children’s Market, which is about children’s bookstores can get more of the bookselling market in a tough bookselling climate. Creating Events for Children is always a wonderful way to learn about how to have events you never would have thought of.
Other nuts and bolts sessions include Free for the Asking: Marketing with PR and Social Media, a great session for stores to learn how to get noticed without paying for it. Social Media is the newest thing, hardly a rage anymore, but stores need to learn how to use Facebook and Twitter to their advantage to help them stand out above the fray, and how to get new customers.
Tuesday the show floor opens after the Children’s Breakfast from 8-9:30, which features some pretty great speakers: Katherine Paterson, Julianne Moore, Brian Selznick, Sarah Dessen, and Kevin Henkes. These breakfasts are very early, and I often grumble about their early hour, but it’s a gift to hear these wonderful authors and illustrators speak about their art and their inspiration. I always leave with a bounce in my step, happy that I sell children’s books.
The annual art auction is different this year, because the ABC has merged with the ABA and is called the ABC Children’s Group at the ABA. They are presenting the annual auction of one-of-a-kind great art from some truly amazing children’s book illustrators. This year the proceeds benefit the new ABFFE Fund for Free Speech in Children’s Books. There will be an auction, but this year it’s earlier, from 5-7:30, on Wednesday. This allows everyone a chance to have dinner later as well as bid on some really stunning art. Follow this link to see all the art that’s up for auction. I’ve already set a budget and I know there will be some fierce bidding going on. Secretly, I’m hoping there will be an announcement of who the new children’s liaison for the ABC Children’s Group will be, but while I wait for news of that appointment,  I will circle and defend the art I’ve already fallen in love with. It wouldn’t be the art auction without some furious and sometimes contentious bidding. Perhaps the thing I like the best is the easy mingling with illustrators who are also huge fans of other illustrators. There’s nothing as charming as an awestruck bookseller trying to outbid an awestruck illustrator who have both found art from a favorite childhood book.
I’m packing a large suitcase with space for galleys for staffers and hopefully, some art. I will leave NYC exhausted but exhilarated, and that is as it should be.

Thanks to the many publishers and authors who wrote in response to last week’s post, I now have a great list of multicultural books published in 2011 featuring main characters of color in stories that are not driven primarily by racial issues.
For the purposes of manageable blog posts that people can print out and use, I’m going to share these 2011 titles with you in two batches,  organized alphabetically by title. The first group is below.
I’ve made a master file that I will continue adding to as more titles come in. Again, publishers are invited to send me title and publishing information for books meeting the above criteria to my PW address: ebluemle at publishersweekly dot com. I’ll make sure these books are represented in the LibraryThing multicultural database (books from any year that meet the other criteria) as well as included in one of the batch posts.
Note: Some of the titles shared with me are books that are primarily race-driven; I will be delighted to share these in a different post. I’m also not including books that feature main characters of color but whose covers show a white character (or a character ethnically ambiguous enough to be assumed white by the viewer) on the cover.
In my prior post, author Malinda Lo raised the question of rethinking my cover policy. She says, in part: “Although I do not support misrepresenting the race of characters on book covers (who does?), I have to say this restriction eliminates some books that are about main characters of color. Many book covers do not depict those main characters on the cover, or publishers have chosen to use ethnically ambiguous stock art — and none of these marketing decisions have much to do with the story that is actually being told. Let’s not forget that the authors of these stories rarely are able to control these types of decisions. … So, perhaps you might rethink that restriction?”
I replied to her thoughtfully articulated question in the blog comments, but since this is an important and complicated point, I thought I’d share my reply here, as well. While I agree that the author shouldn’t be penalized for a decision he or she has no control over, I have a real problem with covers featuring white or ethnically ambiguous characters when the main character’s ethnicity in the story is clear, simply because marketing has determined they’ll sell better.
The problem with that kind of thinking is that it’s circular; if the only books with kids of color on the cover are primarily about race and racial issues, readers will learn to avoid them if they’re not in the mood for that kind of story. The more normalized diverse covers are, the more accepted they’ll be and the better they’ll sell. Maybe I’ll compile a separate list of titles that fit that category…. What say all of you?
2011 Multicultural Books (List #1)
A You’re Adorable, by Martha Alexander (Candlewick Press) 9780763653323 (This is a reissue with a new cover, coming in December 2011.) The famous song lyrics are illustrated by Martha Alexander.
All the Wrong Moves, A Fab Life Novel, by Nikki Carter (Kensington) 9780758255570 After landing a recording contract, Sunday Tolliver tours with her diva cousin, Dreya, and becomes the object of affection of Truth, the tour’s bad-boy star, all in front of the lens of a reality television show.
Amazingly Wonderful Things, by Marla J. Hohmeier; illus. by Penny Weber (Raventree) 9781936299102 This tale describes imaginative delights such as riding a shining star or bouncing across the ocean.
Amigas: A formal affair, by Veronica Chambers (Disney) 9781423123668  Carmen pushes herself double time by aiding the Coral Gables resident “mean girls” with the school dance and helping Amigas Inc. plan a double quince for two unruly cousins.
The Basket Ball, by Esme Raji Codell; illus. by Jennifer Plecas (Abrams, Sept.)  9781419700071 When the boys won’t let Lulu join their school-yard team, she decides to host a Basket Ball—where ball gowns are traded in for sequined basketball jerseys and high-top heels—and start a league of her own.
The Big Wish by Carolyn Conahan (Chronicle) 9780811870405 A young girl’s attempt to make a world-record-breaking wish draws her community closer together.
Boyfriend Season by Kelli London (Dafina, July)  9780758261274 First boyfriends, first love, first mistakes—and an invitation to the hottest teen society party of the year send three friends into a tailspin. Can they handle the pressure of getting everything they think they want?
The Break-Up Diaries 1 by Ni-Ni Simone and Kelli London (Kensington) 9780758263162  The only thing more intense than teen love is a break-up with the uncertainty of a make-up. This title serves up two tales of love that will shake up your assumptions of relationships.
The Break-Up Diaries 2 by Nikki Carter and Kevin Elliott (Kensington, October) 9780758268884 (No description found)
Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles (Walker) 9780802720870  Luis Fuentes is a good boy who doesn’t live with the angst that his big brothers, Alex and Carlos, have always lived with. Luis is smart, funny, and has big dreams of becoming an astronaut. But when he falls for the wrong girl, Luis enters a dark world he’s never known.
Clara Lee and the Apple Pie Dream by Jenny Han; illus. by Julia Kuo (Little, Brown) 9780316070386  Korean American fourth-grader Clara Lee longs to be Little Miss Apple Pie, and when her luck seems suddenly to change for the better, she overcomes her fear of public speaking and enters the competition.
The Daughters Join the Party by Joanna Philbin (Poppy, Nov.) 9780316179683 Emma has never fit into the sweater-set-wearing world of her political family, opting for purple hair and Chuck Taylors to keep herself out of countless photo ops, but when she accidentally lets her father’s presidential plans slip on national television, Emma finds herself thrown into the spotlight.
The Daughters Take the Stage by Joanna Philbin (Poppy) 9780316049092 The daughter of chart-topping pop star Holla Jones, stylish and sensitive Hudson Jones is on the brink of her own musical debut. Hudson has inherited her mother’s talent, but she hasn’t yet embraced Holla’s love of the megawatt spotlight. Can Hudson find a way to perform that reflects her own low-key style? Or will Holla see to it that her only daughter becomes a pop music sensation?
Doing My Own Thing, A Fab Life Novel by Nikki Carter (Dafina, July) 9780758255587 Sunday Tolliver’s hard work and talent have finally paid off—she’s got a smash album and mad-money beyond her wildest dreams. But earning fame is a lot easier than dealing with it. Sunday’s diva cousin, Dreya, and bad-boy rapper, Truth, will do anything to get payback and wreck her reputation. Her gifted new collaborator Dilly has every reason not to make Sunday’s crucial follow-up album a hit. And a new reality show starring Sunday is making her love life way too hot to handle. Now she has to figure out who’s fake, who’s for real, who’s down, and who’s really got her back. And the only way she can take control of her success is to keep making it her way…
***
More titles to come next week!

Last week, there was a half day of school for two local high schools. Usually, that means it’s a slower than normal day for us. But Thursday saw the store graced by several sets of best-teenage-friends.
There is something immensely gratifying about teenagers choosing to come your bookstore. All the kids had to drive to the store, and they chose to spend some time with us. One of the kids, Maggie, has been coming to the store since she was two. She would come for story hour and she still remembers my reading of On Your Potty by Virginia Miller (sadly out of print), which had her in stitches every time I’d say, “Nah,” like the potty-training Bartholmew. Maggie’s sixteen now and came with her best friend to kill some time and really just look around. They pored over the fun stuff section, bouncing balls, spinning tops and generally just being silly. They each were making mental lists about who in their families would like what. If one found something really cool, they would come running over to the other. They even found great teacher gifts. Clearly, stopping at the store was impromptu, as neither actually had any money, so they pooled their resources to get a belated $3 funny Mother’s Day present.
The next set of kids to come in were more focused. What made this visit so gratifying is Kelsey was showing off the store to her friend, Dana. That’s high praise to me. I always feel like teenagers are busy enough, but for one to take the time to show off “her favorite store” to her best friend just makes me feel like we’re doing something right. Kelsey knew exactly what she wanted, The Poisonnwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. It was also a belated Mother’s Day present.
I asked if she’d like it wrapped and she was thrilled. Choosing the wrap was a lot of fun to watch. We have a board that has samples of our ten different wrap styles. I showed it to them and immediately it turned into a game. “Guess which one I’m getting for my Mom?” Dana guessed right. Then Dana asked,”Which one would I choose?”  This went on for several minutes while I wrapped, with each girl asking the other what kind of wrap she’d pick for brother, her dad, etc. I couldn’t help but smile at their simple innocent fun. I gave the package extra ribbons and presented the book with a flourish. They practically clapped. I could hear them giggling all the way to the parking lot.
They left happy, and I stayed happy.