When I want to look up book info, my gold standard is the Library of Congress Online Catalog. I trust that the information will be accurate and easy to find, and I especially appreciate the one- or two-line book summaries found on copyright pages and online subjects/contents listings everywhere. These summaries usually give me everything I need in order to quickly confirm details about a book, providing the main character’s name and age, the main premise of the book, its time period and setting, along with anything particularly distinctive about the form or genre (a novel in verse, a multiple-person narrative) that might not otherwise be predictable. In short, the LOC is a fact-checker’s dream.
I have enjoyed and wondered about these summaries since the early 1990s, when I was a school librarian in NYC. I marveled at their succinctness, their economy, their ability to neatly encapsulate a book. Authors are often asked to summarize their own books in a sentence, and find it one of the hardest things to pull off well. So who were these magic people able to leap complex books in one or two well-crafted, lean bounds? (**See end of article for a contest where you try your own hand at writing a summary; winner receives glory and a very cool prize.**)

Finally, I just had to find out. Some sleuthing (okay, really an email to a pal at Candlewick, the ever-helpful Elise Supovitz) led me to Senior Cataloging Specialist Ruth Polan, who was surprised and possibly gratified that someone had noticed her work and wanted to know more. She graciously agreed to an interview, which we conducted both via email and on the phone. Ruth was so much fun to talk with, lively and funny and full of great information. She answered all of my most pressing questions, and also surprised me; for example, although it makes sense given the nature of writing, I hadn’t realized how much the individual personality of each cataloger manages to seep into the summaries they write, and how much thought they continue to give them long after the book is out.
So, for anyone who has also wondered about the largely invisible but vital agency behind this tool we book people use nearly every day, I now present to you the wonderful Ruth Polan!
How long have you worked for the Library of Congress?
I’ve worked here for a staggering 33 years! It doesn’t seem that long, as my work here has always been interesting, challenging, and fulfilling. I worked first as a descriptive cataloger, from 1977 to 1985. I was in the LC Intern Program in 1986, and then became the coordinator for microform cataloging, a short-lived position that I held from 1986 to 1989. I transferred to the Children’s Literature Section as part of a Library reorganization in 1992 and have been here ever since.
What led you to working there?
In library school at UCLA I intended to specialize in children’s literature, but I became fascinated with what I considered the intellectual challenges of cataloging (I had an amazing cataloging instructor, Betty Baughman, who really knew cataloging theory and history as well as the practical aspects). I ended up specializing in cataloging of children’s literature. I got a job as a children’s librarian in a small public library when I graduated. The following year, a couple of my fellow students from UCLA were going to LC to be in the Intern Program, and a few more of us decided to go along and try to get jobs in Washington, D.C. We were young, unencumbered, and it seemed like an adventure, which it was. Three of us drove a 30-foot U-Haul truck, towing a VW Beetle, from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. in the middle of the summer. Whew!
What exactly does a Cataloging Specialist do? And are you in charge of a fleet of catalogers?
No, I am not in charge of anything! Cataloging Specialist is just bureaucratese for someone who has a lot of experience and can handle the more difficult cataloging chores. We do training, make policy decisions, handle queries from within and outside of the Library, and the like.
How DO you craft those amazing one-line summaries of books? Does any of the info come from the marketing materials and summaries publishers provide, or is each book read by the catalogers before the summary line is written?
Ah….. our summaries. We are very proud of them, and we work very hard to make them as well-written and informative as possible. We have some guidelines that we follow, which I will try to summarize:
The summary should be a brief, non-critical one-sentence annotation that describes the content of the work being cataloged without making any judgmental statements about its quality. The general rule of thumb about length is 20 to 25 words, but we retain the right of flexibility, taking as many words as are needed to describe the work adequately and accurately. Sometimes a second sentence is added to reflect special features of the work (“Includes related activities” or “Features movable flaps”).
In cataloging fiction, the cataloger tries to mention the name and age of the main character, where appropriate, as well as the setting, time period, and key elements of plot or theme. Effort is made not to give away too much of the story, particularly the ending.
We will make use of info from the publishers if it is helpful. In the past we made an effort to read each galley, but we are so swamped with work and have so few catalogers now that we just cannot do that anymore. We make use of summaries from the web (various specialized websites), information supplied by the publisher, etc. We try to read at least the first and last few chapters to get the flavor of the book.
How many summaries are written daily, and by how many people?
I really don’t know how many are written daily. I can do between 3 and 10, depending on the length and kinds of books at the top of the stack. We handle a large range of material, from simple picture books to young adult novels, graphic novels, and everything in between. We have a staff of 5 1/2 catalogers. One is still in training, and one is half-time with us and half-time with another section. When I joined the section, we had 12 catalogers. We have lost people to retirement, sickness, transfers, and one person actually resigned! We are anticipating more people retiring in the near future – our longest-serving staff member is leaving at the end of the year, which will be a huge loss. We are trying to do less with more, and it’s very difficult. We used to provide summaries and juvenile subject headings for both fiction and nonfiction, but several years ago we had to stop doing nonfiction altogether. We are now looking at other categories for which to provide more limited cataloging treatment.
[Librarians take note! Ruth also mentioned that the Library of Congress has started a program with other libraries and with publishers to be a partner in cataloging children’s literature. Interested library systems can inquire about partnering with LC in cataloging through the ECIP Cataloging Partnership Program by getting in touch with Diane Barber at the email address or phone number here: dbarber @  loc.gov 202- 707 –  5176 or Caroline Santucci, 202-707 – 3317 and csus @ loc.gov. The strange spacing is to thwart bots.]
Is there a style bible you use? What kinds of words do you avoid?
We use the Chicago Style Manual, but we have a variety of other reference tools that we go to, from Strunk and White (especially the nifty new edition illustrated by Maira Kalman!) to our own internal guidelines. In 1971 one of the catalogers who dubbed herself the “annotator in residence” wrote a memo to the director of the Processing Dept. concerning our guidelines. She wrote the following:
Verbal policies…. “adhered to assiduously by the children’s catalogers, are as follows:
– To refrain from the use of complimentary or uncomplimentary adjectives in the annotation that refer to the story, the content of the book, or the author’s viewpoint. This eliminates such verbiage as “cute,” “exciting,” or “delightful.”
– To refrain from the use of phrases that might be construed to be editorial. This includes such statements as, “A biography of America’s greatest woman poet…” and other subjective statements.
– To summarize as concisely as possible the plot, the type of story, or the content of the book (if non-fiction). If the format or the author’s viewpoint is an unusual one we might make note of that such as an Englishman writing on the Revolutionary War.
– To avoid “showy” writing, multisyllabic words, wordiness, and phrases or terms not in common usage.”
With the above guidelines in mind, the ….catalogers … strive to create an annotation that is unobtrusive in style or language and which in concise and clear sentences states the idea, plot, or content of the book.”
Are the summaries always written before the book’s publication date?
That’s a hard one. Our goal is certainly to always provide cataloging data before the book is published, sometimes the publisher does not send the information to us enough in advance of the publication date. Sometimes we get the application information in the same month as the publication date, and we cannot supply the data in cases like that. We have a large backlog right now of about 500 titles, so we’re running about 2 months behind. Sometimes, on the other hand, we get the information to the publisher in ample time and for whatever reason, they decline to publish it in the book. And sometimes they don’t send in for CIP cataloging (Cataloging in Publication) but print in the book that CIP data is available, when in fact it’s not.
Do publishers get to see the summaries and/or have input?
Yes, after our cataloging is completed, it is sent to the publisher. If they have questions or concerns they can contact us and suggest corrections, which we will try to accommodate. Sometimes they ask us to make changes and we have to say no because they would violate our policies, but we try to be cooperative.
[A colleague of Ruth’s, Diane Barber—Acting Assistant Chief, U.S. General and U.S. and Publisher Liaison Divisions, Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access Directorate, Library of Congress—added that “it’s important that publishers request CIP data for children’s titles when the story line is firm, so that accurate summaries can be provided for libraries.” Sometimes, the LC will receive information that changes in between the submission date and the publication date, and the publisher doesn’t always remember to alert the LC to those substantive changes.]
Is there a division between children’s books and adult books – between genres – between fiction and nonfiction?
Yes, we in the Children’s Literature section only catalog children’s books, and now, as I’ve said, only fiction at that. Well, actually, we also do folklore and legends, and fairy tales as well. The children’s nonfiction, unfortunately, is usually treated the same way as adult nonfiction, which is to say it is cataloged by “adult” LC catalogers. As for genres, we do graphic novels, novels in verse, picture books, science fiction, fantasy, folk and fairy tales — in other words, all genres that fall into the loose definition of children’s and young adult fiction. As a matter of fact, the former AC (Annotated Cataloging) Program just changed its name to the CYAC (Children’s and Young Adults’ Cataloging) Program, to better identify our scope.

I can tell you that we try to write “in one voice” — that is, we try not to inject our own personality into the summaries, but sometimes it’s difficult. Sometimes I try to have a little fun with them. [There are several examples of this below.]
When I write summaries for books that I really think are good, I often try to convey some of the “atmosphere” of the book in my summary.  Here’s one where I tried to do that (the title is Billy Bones, by Christopher Lincoln):
“The secrets of High Manners Manor, carefully guarded in a closet by Billy and his skeleton parents, begin to unravel when the orphan Millicent arrives and the two children start uncovering ghosts, apparitions, and scurrilous lies that have been festering in the house for far too long.”
You can see that this summary violates several of our guidelines (it’s kind of long and there are certainly multisyllabic words), but I still like it.
Here’s another one I wrote for a book that I adored (The Pillow Book of Lotus Loewenstein, by Libby Schmais):
“Quirky sixteen-year-old Lotus Lowenstein’s diary reveals that although she lives in Brooklyn and is failing high school French, she loves all things Gallic and dreams of living as an existentialist in Paris.”
That one doesn’t quite succeed in conveying the humor of the writing, but I hope it would make someone curious enough to read the book.
What else might inquiring minds like to know about cataloging and the Library of Congress? Anything that might surprise us?
I have to emphasize (this goes for all my answers, both written and oral) that I am speaking for myself alone, not for the Library of Congress in any official capacity.
The worst thing about the job is that we actually have to write summaries for picture books WITHOUT SEEING THE ILLUSTRATIONS!  Talk about hard to do! Sometimes we will read the text and not realize that the main characters are animals and not humans.  After all, they have kids’ names, go to school, talk to their parents, play sports. Unless there’s some clue in the text, like maybe: “The ball fell just beyond Jimmy’s outstretched paw” we wouldn’t know unless the publisher tells us. And then we feel kind of stupid when the book is published and the story is about a family of cats.
[So heads up, publishers! Please remind your staff members to send in brief summaries along with manuscript text submissions!]

It’s very exciting to find out that you cataloged/wrote a summary for a book that goes on to win an award or is an honor book. As I said above, I did Walk Two Moons. I also did Christopher Paul Curtis’s The Watsons Go to Birmingham–1963. It was his first book, as you know, and when I finished it I put it down and went to the woman who was the head of the section at that time and I said, “I have just discovered a fantastic new talent.” I’m still convinced that if it hadn’t been his first book he would have won the Newbery with it. I couldn’t stop talking about it to my colleagues, and I made everyone read it when it was published. At that time we had a children’s literature book discussion group that met at lunchtime once a month, and I insisted that we had to read this great book. Anyway, my point is that it’s kind of a thrill when you pick out the good ones in advance of their even being published.
Indeed.
***
Ruth subsequently shared other summaries she particularly likes, and I can’t resist sharing them with you, as well. Her commentary is as entertaining as the summaries themselves:
Here’s one where I really tried hard to capture the vividly icky atmosphere conveyed by the author. I don’t feel that I was entirely successful, but I tried. The book is Inside the Slidy Diner by Lauren Snyder.
“A little girl describes the creepy decor, people, and events at the greasy diner she lives in, where Ethelmae, the owner, sweeps up sticky buns from the filthy floor and serves them, and the house specialty is “Lumps and Dumplins”–with a secret ingredient.”
————————————————————
Here’s a Daniel Pinkwater book where I included a little inessential extra (the name of the teacher) because, well, who can resist Daniel Pinkwater’s names?
“Flash Fleetwood finds a very quiet gorilla which he names Phil, and, to the delight of the second grade students, their teacher Mrs. Hotdogbun says he may attend school along with them.”
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I didn’t do this one, but your book got this very nice summary that includes your words:
“A young boy who likes to ‘wokka-wokka, shimmy-shake, and shocka-shocka’ gathers his neighbors together for a surprise celebration.”
————————————————————
One more where I used some phrases from the text but didn’t enclose them in quotes, but for some reason I did enclose babyberry pie in quotes. It’s Heather Vogel Frederick’s Babyberry Pie:
“In illustrations and rhyming text, gives the recipe for making “babyberry pie,” from picking a baby from the babyberry tree and popping him in the tub to putting powdered sugar on his nose and toes and tucking him into pie crust covers.”
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This is from a book called Lines that Wiggle. I used phrases from the very rhythmic, alliterative text:
“A variety of monsters and other creatures demonstrate some of the different things that lines can do, from curving and curling to zigging and zagging.”
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lccn: 2007031969
Kathi Appelt. The Underneath.
An old hound that has been chained up at his hateful owner’s run-down shack, and two kittens born underneath the house, endure separation, danger, and many other tribulations in their quest to be reunited and free.
[SPOILER ALERT!] The publisher asked me to change the summary to avoid giving away the ending.  My original sentence ended with something like: “…. before being reunited.”
————————————————————

lccn: 2008052331
Jayne Lyons. 100% wolf.
At the time of his first transformation, a young werewolf of noble and proud ancestry is driven from his pack when, instead of turning into a fierce wolf, he changes into a little black poodle.
——————————————————————————
lccn: 2009025071
Troy Cummings. The Eensy Weensy Spider freaks out! (Big time).
Frightened after the scary waterspout incident, the Eensy Weensy Spider needs some encouragement from her friend the ladybug before she will try climbing again.
——————————————————————-
And that concludes our interview. Thanks so much to Ruth for her time and helpfulness and great good sense of humor. How much do we love those summaries?!
*** CONTEST***
Forget the Bulwer-Lytton; here’s the Summary Smash!

Craft an original one-sentence summary—you may not build yours upon the LC or publisher summaries—for any of these three books: Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief, M.T. Anderson’s Feed, or E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web. First-place winners will receive Kindles, Nooks, or iPads. Hahahahahaha! No, they won’t. They will win something of incalculable value: fame, glory, and the undying admiration of hundreds, nay thousands, of PW readers.
Grand Prize — Take the Ruth Polan Challenge: Come up with the one-line summary of Walk Two Moons Ruth most wishes she’d written, and we will send you a copy of Walk Two Moons signed by both Sharon Creech and Ruth Polan!

Winners will be announced in next Thursday’s Shelftalker.

As the year draws to a close, and I pull together the Flying Pig’s annual catalog, I think a lot about books I’ve loved that have flown under the radar, either critically speaking or with the broader reading public.
For a while, I was afraid that TR Simon and Victoria Bond’s unforgettable Zora and Me would top my under-the-radar list, but finally, the reviews started coming in, and then the New York Times featured it, so the recent surge of attention has allayed my fears. I think it’s an extraordinary book—beautifully written, wholly original, and rich in scope. I’m so glad it’s finally reaching its wider audience.
So, with Zora off my plate, I am going to talk about a terrific, funny YA novel called Scrawl. I’d met the author, Mark Shulman, at various writing conferences, so when he handed me an ARC of his debut YA novel in January, I was a little apprehensive, in that way we are in this field when someone we know gives us something to read. It can be awkward. What if we don’t like it?  So, to be honest, I put off reading Scrawl, even though I’d found Mark to be very funny and smart in person, which usually bodes well for writers, and even though it was a Neal Porter/Roaring Brook title (and therefore likely to be quite good), and even though I really liked the cover (refreshingly, not a photo of a teen). I also liked the set-up: a bad boy’s story, told from his point of view. I am a sucker for a good bad boy. Still, even with all that in its favor, the book got no attention from me for months, just guilty glances whenever I walked by.
Finally, avoidance gave way to suck-it-up-ness a few weeks ago, when I found out Mark would be at the Rochester Children’s Book Festival. It would be just plain rude not to read the book before running into him. So I picked it up and blam! read it in one sitting and loved it. I had so much fun reading Scrawl, in fact, that I’d read it again. And that is saying something for this ARC-laden bookseller.
So here’s how it goes: Tod Munn is in detention writing a journal for the benefit of Mrs. Woodrow, the guidance counselor charged with seeing him through his many weeks of afterschool punishment for various acts of bullying and mayhem. He doesn’t want to write about himself, but it was that or get sent to juvie. So Tod chooses, as the book trailer says, “to sit down every day … [and] scrawl his story in his crappy notebook in his smart-mouth way to write what it’s really like to be a bully.”
Tod has finagled his way to this indoor detention while his buddies (they call each other “droogs” à la A Clockwork Orange hooligans), are stuck doing yardwork and maintenance outside. Needless to say, this does not sit well with them, and their friendship begins to wear as Tod’s story — his real story — begins to change.
Tod is a smart, cynical, strong, confused teen who excels at self-protection, but, through the act of writing the journal — and falling for a girl — he starts to let his soul seep through the cracks. Not in an annoying, sappy way, but in a self-aware, extremely observant, and funny way. The voice is the absolute star of this book.
Other notable characters include the droogs (rough-hewn tough boys and one rich kid tough-guy wannabe, all of whom are more limited than Tod), Tod’s hardworking, unsentimental seamstress mother, his unpredictably grumpy stepdad, and, of course, the girl, a character loved by smart YA writer dudes the nation over: an unconventionally pretty, smart, nerdy-cool arty girl who knows herself, plays by her own rules, exudes confidence, and yet is reassuringly, accessibly misfit. In Scrawl, she sculpts and directs plays and manages to use the system without getting sucked in by it. She also manages to get Tod to provide costumes for the play, which leads to some harrowing and hilarious mishaps. Amid the action are very sweet moments of revelation and vulnerability.
Scrawl‘s Tod Munn is the funny brother of the main characters in Chris Lynch’s Who the Man (sadly OP at the moment), Watt Key’s Dirt Road Home, and Michael Northrop’s Gentlemen, misunderstood-bully books I also loved. Oh! And he’s chunky, and it’s just a thing, not a thing.




There’s something special about this book. It’s not that the plot elements are so brand-spankin’-new, and yes, there is some neatness to the outcome; but it’s all put together so pleasingly, with punch and wit and smarts, and in such a way that the events and characters stay with you, that I didn’t really care. The writing is swift and lively, and the scenes are vividly drawn. I’ll never forget Tod scavenging through clothes looking for costumes at the donation store, or in his chilly glass-walled porch room, or staring at the statue he admires so much.
If you or a teen you know is a fan of any of the books mentioned above, or, for that matter, Gary D. Schmidt’s The Wednesday Wars, give Scrawl a try. I think you’ll like it.
Nancy Werlin liked it, too. She said in a blurb on the ARC: “Scrawl is a fabulous, riveting read. Tod is probably the most interesting bad boy I’ve ever met in YA fiction, and Mark Shulman is certainly one of the best new voices.” I agree wholeheartedly.
I hope to add more favorite under-the-radar books in the upcoming weeks. What are yours?

Having to work on your birthday can be a bummer, but when you work at a bookstore it’s actually a lot of fun. Bookstores are like small neighborhoods, especially when your store is in a rural setting and you know everyone.
My birthday was Sunday and all day I had customers commenting on the gorgeous flowers on the counter (given to me by a staffer). Little kids were wishing me happy birthday (some I didn’t even know) and lots of folks were patient as I fielded happy birthday calls at the store. This was my 13th birthday at the Flying Pig. And with each one, more and more customers wish me well. Kids who weren’t born when we opened are dropping off cards and sending birthday wishes.
It’s days like this that remind me what a small and lovely community I’m privileged to work in. These people have become my extended family. They are the people I see every day when I get my coffee and my lunch. We all know each other’s names and are happy to share a hug in good news and in bad. I enjoyed the little pieces of cake that were dropped off and promised to share the pie that someone made for my surprise party. One thing that strikes me as funny every year is how no one, not one person has gotten me a book for my birthday or Christmas since we’ve been open. Of course that makes sense, but it saddens me a little, because my friends always introduced me to books I might otherwise have missed.
While 46 might feel old to me at times, the customers made this day one of true celebration, and that always makes you feel young.

Every once in a while there are days that make a bookseller crazy crazy. Wednesday was that day for two reasons.
The first reason is the book fair we’re doing for a local school. Only two grades had notes go home to parents reminding them of the book fair so the kids came to school with money. The rest of the grades walked through with only a dollar or two. One thing the school does is have a used book fair at the same time as the new books book fair. This tradition is started to really cut into the new book fair. While I understand the allure of a used book fair for budget-conscious families, it does make a new book fair a really hard sell. A bag of a books for a dollar, or a hardcover for $17.99?  We just can’t win. Consequently, we’re not exactly selling new books hand over fist. And to top it off, several people have questioned that our giving a percent of the proceeds isn’t enough. Several people have implied that we should be giving all the proceeds of book sales to the school. While that would be lovely, we actually have expenses that need to be  paid. Expenses like the books, the staff time to process the books, the staff time necessary to return all the books that didn’t sell, all need to be factored in to the discount we give back to any school. It’s also hard to be enthusiastic about a book fair when a teacher was overheard telling a student that a book could be bought much more cheaply through another venue, rather than the book fair hosted by the local independent bookstore. Ouch. This kind of attitude flies in the face of the dedication we feel from so many of our customers, who shop us every day and continually support us and want us only to thrive.
The second thing that gave me fits was a call we got at 5:45 pm on Wednesday. A teacher called and asked about the pricing/discount we could offer on 106 copies of a book. I quickly did research and knew that this being a Simon and Schuster book, we could offer a slightly better discount because we could do a Business to Business order and get a better percentage, which I could pass on to the teacher. I called the teacher back and told her about the better discount I could offer her. Then I asked her when she needed the books. Monday. This Monday? Yes, she said completely seriously. Monday? Really? I kept asking. So, it’s now 5:45 on Wednesday and you want 106 books by Monday morning. Sure, I can do that. I could. I did it by going to a distributor, not the publisher, thus losing some percentage points. I had to lower the teacher’s discount to adjust for the change in purchasing. The teacher was very understanding about it. If everything works the way it should, we will get 106 copies on Friday.
Then the teacher asked if we delivered. I just laughed.

Have you got favorite literary festivals? Recently, I’ve been an author guest at a couple of excellent ones, and I had so much fun at both that I wanted to share a little bit of what made them so terrific.
The first was the Brattleboro Literary Festival earlier this fall. This festival features both children’s and adult books, and in years past, they’ve had many children’s book authors, but this year, there were just two of us: me and the ridiculously charming Jef Czekaj (usual pronunciation). (Just kidding; he pronounces it “Jeff.”) (Kidding again. It’s Checka, or really, something in between Checka and Checkeye. Oh for Pete’s sake, ask him. He and I both need to record our names for TeachingBooks.net, where you can hear authors and illustrators pronouncing their names and giving teachers and students a little tidbit of interesting related info.) Jef’s recent book is Hip & Hop Don’t Stop (<—click on the link to see his book trailer, which hilariously spoofs movie trailers while also providing a great entree into his story). As a bouncy rap/dance picture book, Hip & Hop pairs very nicely with my book, How Do You Wokka-Wokka? That was terrific planning by the festival organizers.

Jef and I were scheduled to do our presentations back to back on Sunday morning. On Saturday evening, we had a chance to meet at the lovely author dinner hosted by the organizers. Although we’d never met, I gravitated toward Jef and his girlfriend, Jacy, immediately. Children’s book writers are a kindred breed.

We are also usually more casually dressed than our adult lit counterparts, it must be said, which makes it easy to recognize one another. We sat down at one of the long tables, where a beautiful woman sat down next to me and introduced herself—”Hello, I’m Marilyn Nelson”—and I had a truly starstruck moment. “THE Marilyn Nelson?!” I gasped, as though there might be numerous Marilyn Nelson impersonators just waiting to trip up hapless fans. I like to think she was pleased by my enthusiasm; I need to think it, in fact, since I gushed, a lot, about Carver and A Wreath for Emmett Till and her other gorgeous, poetic, powerful achievements.


Then Jef Czekaj changed my life. He really did, by mentioning that he has a recorded soundtrack that goes with his book when he reads aloud to groups of kids. My Wokka is a rhythmic book, and it’s fun to give kids some music or a beat behind it to dance to. I’ve got a friend, Mashabane, who played drums to Wokka at my launch party, but he is a busy man and I can’t drag him to every event. Somehow it had never occurred to me to use Garageband, already handily installed on my laptop, to lay down a track to accompany me when I’m on the road. So after the delicious dinner, I rushed back to my hotel room and spent the next two hours messing with some jazzin’ drum beats. (I also snacked on some of the fruit from the GIFT BASKET they left in the authors’ hotel rooms (the Latchis Hotel is really wonderful, and I got a tour of the renovated old-time theatre connected to the hotel). They also gave us an envelope with the festival schedule and our individual instructions for getting to our various venues. Very helpful.)

The next day, we met Ruth Allard, the conference organizer, half an hour or so before our event to check the sound system. There was a bake sale in the room, and bottles of water provided for us, and then families strolled in and sat in the rows of seats provided and on the floor. Jef and I took turns reading our books. I had my newly minted beat background; the littler kids happily danced around, wokka-ing. Afterward, there were lots of questions, from adults and older kids asking about the writing and publishing process, to preschoolers proudly telling me they had a brown dog or that their favorite color was blue. Then I got to watch Jef’s presentation, an energetic, funny, kid-friendly-rap-filled tortoise/hare friendship story. Schools must love this book, too, with its theme of celebrating differences and breaking through barriers to bring people together.
It was a delightful two days, and I loved how the entire picturesque town of Brattleboro, Vermont, becomes a literary mecca during the weekend of the festival. Thanks, Ruth and everyone! It was extra fun to see my bookselling colleague, Lisa Sullivan from The Book Cellar, at the reading with her adorable kids. The Book Cellar was a major provider of books for the festival, and they did a great job.

The Rochester Children’s Book Festival is another fabulous festival. As the title suggests, it’s all about children’s books. Let me just say that it’s a riotously fun and extremely well organized event where 40 children’s book authors and illustrators meet 4,000+ kids, families, teachers, and librarians. There are ongoing author presentations and book readings all day long, and a big room with tables where all of the authors and artists sit and sign books and chat with visitors to the table. There are crafts for the kids—an incredible volunteer named Margie Hillenbrand comes up with a craft related to one book from every single author and illustrator at the festival! It’s 100% volunteer-run and operated, which is absolutely amazing. The three powerhouses behind it are Elizabeth Falk, Kathy Blasi, and Barbara Underhill, and they manage to pull off a huge all-day event without any of its seams showing. Lift Bridge Book Shop provides all of the books for sale at the festival, and my bookseller self knows exactly how challenging and time-consuming that must be, while my author self is wildly grateful to them for doing such a great job. This is one of the best-run big book events I’ve ever attended; every aspect of it is thought through deeply and completely.
A few particularly wonderful things the festival provides for its authors: transportation everywhere you need to go; a gift bag with water, Post-its (to help with the autographing process), candy, and other goodies; and a curtained-off lunch area for us to refuel during the day and catch a breath. They also host a beautiful dinner after the conference, which is a blast. Picture a big room full of exhausted, giddy authors and illustrators chatting and laughing their heads off, and you’ll get the idea.
This post is already stretching the length limits, so I will now close with several photos that will do a better job of conveying the joy of this event (before, during, and after) than I ever could.

Young kids who love the store and are very possessive of it make me happy. It thrills me to see a child stride in, head up, marching toward the register to give one of us a hug.  When kids show off the store their friends it just kills me. The tour they give is priceless: “Here is where they have the book I have at home.”
Yesterday I was working alone. I was deep in the heart of a multi-step mail order sale when one of my favorite kids came in the store. She didn’t come in the store as much she swept in, practically dropping her coat to run toward the register. Celine didn’t care that I was on the phone as she shouted, “Hi, Josie!”
I was charmed to bits. This curly-headed moppet adores the store and loves coming in. Celine made herself very comfortable behind the register, sitting on one our spinning office chairs. Chad, her babysitter, had never been to the bookstore with Celine before and was somewhat horrified to see her making herself so at home while I was on the phone. As I was hanging up I heard Celine explain why she could sit in the back. “I have a wish list here.” As if that explained it all. And yesterday, it did.

We’re just a week into November and I’m deeply thinking about the holidays. I look around my store and try to guess what the “must have” books are going to be. While I usually look at books, yesterday I also spent a fair amount time trying figure out what the best stocking stuffers will be this year.
I  am not the sidelines buyer, thank goodness, but I do try to notice trends, so I can tell Elizabeth what’s working and what’s not. Fancy 3-D bookmarks are literally flying off their spinning display at a rate that has me wondering if we’ll have enough come December. Do we have the right animal mix? Are wolves going to outsell kittens? Are dinosaurs dead? This is what I think about when I’m quiet at work.
These cute little ceramic dolls from Japan are doing surprisingly well for a $12.95 item. I’ve seen enough kids and parents eyeing them that I know I won’t have enough to see me through the holidays. Do I have enough of the letter magnets that I was sure wouldn’t sell, and have been? And what letters should we really have in abundance? Is there an algorithm for knowing that for every “S” you have, you need four “E”s? All I know is there are never enough “J”s.
The problem with sidelines is often they take a long time to arrive at the store. Shipping is by no means overnight, or free, so it’s a guessing game of time and money. Sidelines can’t be returned as books can. So will I be stuck with 12 gorgeous ceramic, hand-painted flying piggy banks, or will they sell out, or fly, as the case may be, before Christmas? I just don’t know and this makes me crazy this time of year.
Guess right and you’re a genius who has all the doo-dads and cool add-ons that customers didn’t even know they needed. Guess wrong and you’ve lost a sale and are looking a January sale full of buying mistakes.
So, I’m curious what folks think will be the hot not-book sellers this holiday season.

This has been a wonderful fall for new books from some of my favorite picture book authors. As a bookseller who is also a lover of the picture book, it’s always a fraught moment when I see the latest book by my favorites. I want each book to succeed and meet all my expectations and surpass the previous book. I nervously open the pages and hope for the best. In these two instances, I was thrilled.
Knuffle Bunny Free: An Unexpected Diversion is the third and final book in the Knuffle Bunny series by Mo Willems. This time Trixie and Knuffle Bunny go to Holland to visit her Oma and Opa. The adventure starts well enough, with going to the airport. There’s a funny image of Knuffle Bunny going through the x-ray screener and all seems well.  Until Trixie and family arrive in Holland and realize that Knuffle Bunny has been left on the plane.  Again, the combination of art and photographs works really well. Trixie’s Dad calls the airline and finds out that the plane was headed to China! The distance makes the loss of Knuffle Bunny seem all the more great.  Oma and Opa do their best to cheer Trixie up by getting her “a brand-new, top-of-the-line Funny-Bunny-Wunny-Doll Extreme!” Close but no cigar. A foreshadowing with Trixie’s dad sharing a story about outgrowing his “Special Lamby” sets the stage for a very moving ending. I have to confess the first time I read this book was out loud to 18 kindergarteners. I suggest that people read books once through before they are read aloud; I found it hard to not tear up a tiny bit at the ending. The book works as a very satisfying finale to the series.
David Wiesner is one of my all-time favorite author/illustrators. His wordless books are modern classics. So it was of great interest to me when his newest book, Art and Max, had words. The words work in this very playful exploration of art. Max and Art are good friends. Art is a practiced painter who thinks he knows everything about art, but it’s his friend Max who teaches him about real art. Max sets out to paint Max, literally. And this is where David Wiesner is so gifted: he really works with color, or lack thereof, on the page to dramatic effect. As Max tries and tries again to capture Art, the pages fill with color against the pale desert backdrop. Gentle humor between the friends made me laugh with the words and the art. The different media are as educational as they are beautiful; what a fun and clever way to introduce art to children.  I tend to pore over books by David Wiesner and this one is no different.
Both of these men have two things in common: they produce great books and between them they’ve won three Caldecott Medals and five Honors. I suspect this year they’ll both be adding to their medal count.

On Facebook the other day, I happened to catch sight of Margie Palatini’s new book trailer for Lousy Stinkin’ Rotten Grapes, her fun new collaboration with Barry Moser. The trailer was terrific: funny, brief, well-edited, visually appealing — and it definitely makes a viewer want to see the book.
Lousy Stinkin’ Rotten Grapes book trailer
Watching it made me realize how rarely I see (or seem to seek out) book trailers, although there are so many terrific, effective ones out there. I really only watch them if an author or illustrator friend (or a publicist, or a blogger) alerts me to it via Facebook or email or blog post.
And that realization made me curious about who, exactly, IS watching — and using — book trailers, and where, how, and why. I know that YA book trailers seem popular with avid teen readers, many of whom create trailers themselves in homage to favorite books (or, sometimes, as send-ups of some of the more popular books). But how much of a viewership is there beyond teens, authors, and the social networking friends of authors?
So we’re asking you:
Do you booksellers and librarians who embed trailers on your sites find that they get many hits/views?
Do your customers/patrons ever mention book trailers to you?
Do you publishing folks find that book trailers lead to sales (or at least increased hits, or interest in the books) on your websites? Is this even trackable?
How important do you feel book trailers are for authors? And what do you consider to be their goal and best use?
Finally, where do you discover new book trailers, and what makes you want to watch them?
I’m so curious about this subject and would love to hear from you all.

We’re reaching that time of year when all schools, it seems, are having book fairs. It makes sense to have the book fair right before the holidays as folks are thinking about presents for the entire family. In-school book fairs are the most common, although the appeal of an in-store book fair is not lost on some schools. I want to talk about in-school fairs.
The most successful book fairs are ones with the most parent and teacher involvement. You’d think that goes without saying, but often book fair times are not really thought out for increasing sales. Our last in-school book fair had us slotted to be at the school during half days and parent-teacher conferences. Needless to say, the kids seldom came through and the fair was a bust.
– Timing is key. Work with the school to find a time, usually over several days, when the school is in session to have the book fair. Make certain the room you’re having the fair in can be locked at night. This protects the books and makes all involved sleep better.
– Secure good volunteer help before the book fair begins. This is perhaps the most vital part of any book fair. It’s also really helpful to have one contact person at the school. This person is key. She (let’s face it, not many dads help at book fairs) is your point person at the school, she knows how to run the cash register and, most importantly, she’s personally invested in the book fair’s success. It’s her job to make sure she has enough help at the school.
– Be very clear up front what the bookstore’s role will be. When we do book fairs, we provide the books. The school is responsible for getting the books from the store to the school and setting them up and making sure they received what we said they would. When the book fair is over the school is responsible for packing up and bringing the books back to the store. Although we have found that helping the school with set-up and display can help create better sales.
– Stores must provide a clear list of all the books provided. We usually give schools a master packing list and then a sales sheet to use at the register. As books get sold a hash mark is placed next to the title. These lists can be invaluable if there’s a dispute or the money at the end is either over (as the case usually is) or under.
– Ordering books for book fairs is always the hardest part. This is where you need to know your school. Are they looking for hardcover gift books for the whole family, or are paperbacks more what they’re looking for? One thing to keep in mind with book fairs is that Scholastic Book Fairs have gotten schools and parents used to lower prices on all the books, so having non-discounted hardcovers could really backfire. There is always the struggle to have a book fair that looks full without overwhelming the school. This has always been a challenge for us as we don’t take orders at book fairs, so if we run out of it, it’s not there to buy anymore.
– Work with the school librarian and teachers about wish-list books. These are often great sellers as parents are eager to help out by purchasing books that have been specifically requested.
– Remember to include your state’s award list books. Parents like getting books they think the kids will like that might also be books the kids have to read.
– We have found one of the best predictors of sales is doing book talks to as many classrooms as possible. Elizabeth gets really smart and she creates a flyer for her book talks that the kids can take home with them. Nothing’s as easy as circling the covers of the books you think you’d like. Then the parents can see what the kids want and can budget accordingly.
– The kids need to have access to the book fair. They often need to see the books more than once. So, if classrooms can go through the book fair twice, if not more, then they’ll be more likely to buy books. More importantly than the kids seeing the book fair, are the parents knowing about it and either giving their kids money to buy books or coming in themselves to buy books for their kids. Send notes home with the students about what time their class is going through the book fair so the kids can have money, or  the parents can come at that time and shop with their child.
– While no one really likes contracts, sometimes they’re helpful for book fairs. A simple contract states what percent of total sales goes back to the school. It also protects the bookstore from damages as how they are dealt with can be clearly laid out.
– Check the books back quickly once the school gets them to you. The faster the store does this, the faster the store gets paid and the sooner the school gets its money. Also, disputes about damaged or missing books can be handled speedily.
In a perfect world, all the books sell, none get damaged and everyone is happy. I don’t live in such a world, but we’re doing a book fair next week, and I’m hoping for the best and that no one gets a headache.