I know it’s not quite fall yet. But all the kids in Vermont have gone back to school and this changes the shopping patterns at the bookstore. I’m always amazed how a school day feels different than a summer day.
There is a calm that comes to the bookstore once the kids go back to school and the tourists leave for a little bit. A summer day can be busy at any time, with entire families coming in seeking books. In the fall, we don’t tend to see the whole family, we see relieved parents who can now shop at a leisurely pace, uninterrupted by the demands of children. The mornings we see single shoppers, almost exclusively women, who are shopping either for themselves or getting gifts for kids. There is sometimes a small lunch-time rush, but there is not the crush of customers of late July or August.
The rush for us in the fall starts immediately after school lets out. First we’ll see the kids who either walk or bike to school. They’ll stop at the store on their way home to see if anything new has come in. Then after sports practice lets out, usually around 4, we’ll have a steady stream of families picking up special orders or getting birthday presents. One thing that takes a while to happen after school starts is pleasure reading for the kids. The older the child, the more homework she gets and the less likely she is to buy a “fun” book to read. But once the homework load starts to seem manageable (usually around the end of September) kids will start reading just for the love of reading. It always saddens me is that we lose so many high school student freshmen to homework and not to pleasure reading. We get them back during holidays and summers, but I miss seeing them during the academic year.
I always enjoy fall because it’s a real breathing period before the craziness of the leaf peepers and then the holiday season. The weather is still gorgeous and I actually have time to enjoy it. Plus, I can wear a sweater to work in the morning.
***
On a completely different note, Elizabeth and I would like to take a moment to thank Alison for setting the bar for ShelfTalker so high, with three years of wonderful, entertaining, chock-full-of-fun blogs. Long before we joined PW as bloggers, we enjoyed her posts; they were always informative and creative — and she made them look easy. (Ha! We know better now.) We’re sure the blogosphere has not seen the last of Alison. Her energy and enthusiasm for children’s books (and everything related to them) are infectious, and we are delighted that, though her path has led away from bookselling, Alison is still very much a part of the children’s book world. Thanks so much, Alison, from all of us ShelfTalker readers and bloggers!

Thanks to all of you who’ve been reading my lengthy round-up posts in this, my last week as a regular contributor to the ShelfTalker blog. For my final post I’m leaving you with… a handful of reading recommendations. Some of them books, some of them not.
*****
First of all, I just have to say that I recently finished reading What Happened on Fox Street by Tricia Springstubb (Balzer + Bray, August 2010) and Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes (Little, Brown, August 2010) and both of them were utterly wonderful — two of the best books I’ve read this year. If you haven’t made time for these two, please do! And either before or after you read Ninth Ward, do yourself the favor of watching the truly excellent documentary Trouble the Water, even if you *think* you already know all about Hurricane Katrina. It’ll stay with you, and it’ll teach you things.
*****
You know who teaches me things on a daily basis? My husband, Gareth Hinds, who has a new book coming out in October. It’s a 250-page graphic novel adaptation of The Odyssey being published simultaneously in paperback and hardcover by Candlewick Press. Candlewick flew in an early batch of finished copies so that they’d have copies to send to reviewers, and two books (one hardcover, one paperback) arrived at our Boston home just before we finished packing for our move. I literally squealed with delight when I saw them, and Gareth couldn’t wipe the grin off his face. They look sooooo good!!
It has been such a joy to watch this project come together from start to finish, and each time I look at the finished results I marvel at the complexity of this undertaking and the fact that my husband (MY HUSBAND!) created this beautiful and truly thoughtful edition of one of the world’s most important and most loved stories. He did the text adaptation, he plotted out the entire story, he thumbnailed 250 pages of lay-outs, he designed all of the characters (there are so MANY of them in this book!), and he painstakingly penciled and watercolored each and every page.
This week Booklist gave a starred review to the book and it was just so gratifying for Gareth to see others’ responding to it with as much enthusiasm as have people like (the very obviously biased) me. I hope when YOU see the book you will think every bit as highly of it as I do. And I hope it will make life a LOT easier for many a teacher, and for many a student too! Gareth will have his own booth at NCTE this year. Look for him at the show if you’ll be there, and possibly for me, as well. ( Someone’s got to help him run that booth!)
*****
One of the most satisfying things to have come out of my blogging time these past few years has been the “rescue” of a book I was extremely sorry to see go out of print! About a year and a half after I blogged about my disappointment in the fact that the wonderful Mud Pies and Other Recipes: A Cookbook for Dolls written by Marjorie Winslow and illustrated by Erik Blegvad had gone out of print, I received an email from Sara Kramer, managing editor of New York Review Books Classics announcing their plans to reissue the book, thanks to my having brought it to their attention! HOORAY!! Their newly repackaged edition will be published in October, so you don’t have long to wait before you’ll be able to get your hands on a copy.
*****
Ancient Literary Usernames. That’s the theme of an interesting blog post and entertaining factoid. According to a blogger at The Toasted Scimitar,”Charlemagne and the intellectual men of his court who all enjoyed writing and commenting on poetry and philosophy all had unusual nicknames for each other that resemble the usernames we use online. While their snail-mail letters took even longer to get places than the modern mail, the did address each other by these names when writing to one another, and in that respect are no different than the ones we use today.” Yes, everything old is new again.
*****
My Japanese “sister” Eriko (who lived with my family as an exchange student during one year of high school, then later married one of our classmates and now lives in Pennsylvania with her husband Brian and two beautiful kids) brought this fascinating blog post to my attention, about the types of school lunches served in Japan, and the lessons that go along with them. I think it’s very much worth reading — especially for anyone working in schools or raising school-aged children!
*****
I got a kick out of post on Mind Hacks in which I learned that, “While modern day technological doom-sayers suggest that technology damages the mind because it interrupts concentration, 18th century technological doom-sayers suggested that reading damaged the mind because it required too much concentration.”
*****
Do you know the origins of the word “blurb”? Well, I did not until I did some research (admittedly online) and learned that, in fact, its origins are verrrry entertaining. (You just never know what’s going to catch on, do you?)
*****
How do YOU keep track of what books you’ve read? At some point last year I learned that my colleague Alexa Crowe has a “BOOK WALL” at her house. This is a wall on which she and her husband and their kids record all of the books they’ve read & the date on which they finished reading them! How cool is this?? I love the thought of creating a space like that and just watching it fill up with titles. How gratifying! And how fun to watch your kids’ handwritten records improve, handwriting-wise, just as the books they’re reading become more complex and sophisticated.
*****
Way back in the winter of 2009 I met a guy who would quickly become one of my *favorite* people I worked with at Wellesley Booksmith. His name is John Vitti, and by day he’s a layout and copy editor in the sports department at the Boston Globe. But by afternoon/evening/weekend he is a volunteer extraordinaire in his hometown of Watertown, Mass. And what is John volunteering to do, exactly? Turn kids on to journalism and make writing more enjoyable for them.
The trouble started (if I’m recalling the story correctly…) when John discovered that one of his daughters was, in early elementary school, paralyzed by a school assignment to write a short piece of non-fiction. He realized that she just couldn’t understand how to break down the writing into pieces or tackle the assignment in chunks, because she’d never really been taught how to do so. Write a creative story? Yes, she could do that. But write from facts? This stumped her completely.
SO, John showed her the ropes. Then he went to her school and talked with the teachers there about starting a voluntary newspaper program at the elementary school. They were all for it, and it wasn’t long before kids starting showing up in droves to participate in the creation of the Cunniff Kids News, which they published online. During the paper’s early days out the store got involved by providing John (who is a regular customer despite the fact that Watertown is a half-hour drive from Wellesley) with galleys for kids to read and review. We gave his young reporters “exclusive” interview access to authors like Rick Riordan, Megan McDonald, and Mary Pope Osborne when we hosted them for store events. I also put John in touch with folks at Charlesbridge, which is literally just a few blocks from Cunniff Elementary. He and 20 young reporters took a tour, learned the basics about how a book gets published, then wrote a piece about said visit for the Cunniff Kids News.
The program at Cunniff was (and still is) hugely successful, due largely, I’m sure, to John’s enthusiasm, creativity, and patience with his protegees. John loves it. The kids love it. And the teachers at Cunniff were, from the beginning, thrilled with the progress the school’s young reporters were making with their writing. Soon Watertown Middle School was asking John if he could pilot the same type of program with their students, to which he immediately agreed. That has meant that when he wasn’t at the Globe or helping the kids at Cunniff, John has been over at Watertown Middle School, helping students put together articles for the Watertown Splash. Now that John has also been asked to expand his program to include an additional two elementary schools in Watertown, I suspect he’ll be a very difficult man to track down!
Why am I telling you all this? For two reasons:
1. John is MORE than happy to talk with others about the school newspaper programs he’s developed and share all the secrets of his success, so that YOU (or other teachers, writers, parents you know) can consider starting similar such programs in your schools, with local youth groups — wherever! Because I think John is SUCH a Grade A guy, I am urging you to take him up on this offer. I think you’ll be wowed by his generosity, his creativity, and his passion for teaching kids the basics of reporting, all in the interest of making them feel more competent as writers. The best email address to use for these purposes is CunniffNews AT Hotmail DOT com.
2.) I think you’ll enjoy reading the articles the kids in John’s programs have been putting together, and I think you’ll be impressed with them too! Visit the website of the Cunniff Kids News and the Watertown Splash, and take a look at the work they’ve done.
I’m not linking directly to pages within these sites, because the newspaper’s homepages are the only ones linked to visitor counters, and I want to be sure John can see any traffic that’s coming in to the site. But if you want to read the Cunniff Kids article about their Charlesbridge visit, click on “The World Around Us” on the left sidebar — the Charlesbridge article is the second to last one that appears there (going back in time). And click on “Read All About It” to see the Cunniff Kids book reviews.
*****
And that’s it, folks! There are so many other fun topics I could explore here or links I could share, but it’s now Josie and Elizabeth’s job to share such treasures with you. I’ll see you again when I pop back up to teach you about making bookish birdhouses, and when we cross paths in the book world, as I feel certain we will.
Thank you all for the time you’ve given me over the past three and a half years! It has been an honor and a pleasure writing for you.

“Art and Design” is the theme of today’s post — my fourth round-up in this, my final week on ShelfTalker.
*****
The movie I’m the most sorry I didn’t manage to catch when it was still in theaters this year is The Secret of Kells. Did you see it? It’s an animated, fictional film about the creation of the Book of Kells (which is housed in the Old Library at Trinity College Dublin, where I spent my junior year of college). Watch the trailer and tell me this doesn’t look like a beautiful film. I’m hopeful that the DVD will soon be headed to my house via Netflix.
The Secret Of Kells – Promotional Trailer from Cartoon Saloon on Vimeo.
*****
While we were in London Gareth and I enjoyed noting the differences between U.K. jackets and U.S. jackets for some of our favorite books. Did you know that in the U.K. there’s an edition of The Graveyard Book that features Dave McKean’s illustrations, just like the one we’ve got here, but also one featuring a cover and interior illustrations by the amazing Chris Riddell? (You can see some of Riddell’s interior art for the book on Forbidden Planet’s blog.) It’s so interesting to see both covers side by side and realize that they are the SAME book. You can see how they’d each appeal to completely different audiences. AND you can see how the cover image at right and below, created by Dave McKean for the U.K.’s adult edition, would probably NOT appeal to most people browsing in the children’s section. (EEK!) It’s especially creepy when you see the full jacket. Creepy and beautiful, though — the ghost bit especially.

Here are three more jackets we found interesting. (The first one is The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey, in case you can’t see past the reflection of my flash bulb.)
 
Can you believe how young and girly Looking for Alaska looks with that cover? Ick. I think Alaska herself would NOT approve.
The cover for The Hunger Games is just one of two variations available in the U.K. The one you see here is the Peeta version, but there’s also one that features Katniss. Several other countries show Katniss on their book covers too. (The Swedish one is just plain CREEPY!)

For his graphic design thesis project at Kent State, the very talented Mikey Burton designed “an integrated branding campaign based around the illustrative reinterpretation of classic book covers directed toward junior high school students.” I stumbled across it a couple of months ago and fell in love. Why? These books look so… modern. And hip. And clean and edgy and interesting. WHICH they are! But in most cases their actual, current covers don’t suggest those qualities, sadly.

If ONLY the publishers with the rights to each of the books Mikey Burton has “re-imagined” would reissue them with Mikey’s designs, and use all the promotional materials he’s created to go with them, too. In the meantime, I’ve had to content myself with the poster I bought from Mikey, featuring his cover design for The Outsiders. (Note that you can also purchase the one printed with glow-in-the-dark ink.) I think Ponyboy would approve, don’t you?
When you look through the Flickr pool of photos from Mikey’s thesis project, be sure to also look at the designs he didn’t use as his “finished” covers. I like some of the discards just as much as those he settled on in the end.


*****

While we’re on the topic of appealing book covers… Mikey Burton (mentioned above) is one of many, many young designers who has furthered his career, in part, by creating gig posters for music concerts (including a very bookish one he created for Wilco).
For the past couple of years I’ve been admiring gig posters (mostly via gigposters.com) and wondering why publishers aren’t hiring more of these hip, creative, often young designers to come up with cover art for young adult novels (and middle grade ones, for that matter), or at least taking more inspiration from their offerings. So often when I peruse gig poster designs I see intelligent, interesting, and eye-catching work (like the Spoon poster at right). I wish I felt that way more often when I look through publishers’ catalogs.


I think the real problem is that I am just so, so tired of seeing covers sporting uninteresting stock photos and the results of bland photo shoots. I’m tired of half the books in the YA section looking interchangeable and uninspiring. I want to see more illustration! I want to see creative, original pieces of art that make me wonder about the stories that spawned them.
I know design budgets and cover deadlines are often tight. And I know that my desire for illustrateed covers does not play to the fact that a certain major retailer frequently demands photos of teens on the covers of teen novels (a demand I believe has had a terrible homogenizing effect on the appearance of today’s YA offerings, to the detriment of sales for everyone). But I also know that teens are very design-conscious nowadays. Stores like Urban Outfitters and ModCloth, which was itself started by a couple when they were in high school, are catering to the tastes of design-conscious teens, but the teen book world is, by and large, NOT yet doing so.
I know that there’s a difference between a poster and a book, and illustrations for one don’t always work for the other. The image on a book’s cover has to make you curious about the story on its pages — at its best, it should entice you to actually OPEN the book, or it serves purely as eye candy. But a lot of the gig posters I see have a very illustrative quality to them — a quality that says, “there’s a story here.” In other words, just because they’re printed on flat paper does not mean these are flat designs. I would argue that many of the book jacket designs I see nowadays are much, much flatter. And they always leave me wondering if the stories those books contain aren’t too.
For more gig posters, see the “poster of the day” posts at tbpdesign’s blog. If you want to add some to your walls, check out the offerings at postercabaret.com or click on the “classifieds” section of gigposters.com.

To all you crafters and shoppers who’ve enjoyed my Etsy posts and t-shirt posts and birdhouse posts and such. This round-up from my final week of regular ShelfTalker blogging is for you!
Up first… RETAIL
Did you know that Bob Staake will create a CUSTOM doodle for you for just $40?? I think you should take him up on the offer, then invite me over to see the results.
The next time you want to be left alone while you’re reading, just string up some of this caution tape from Highsmith.
Tired of people thinking that drinking is all you ever do? Send a message to them loud a clear with a (hic!) book-engraved hip flask. I love that the ad copy for this product says, “Perfect gift for avid readers or book group members.” CLEARLY I have been joining the wrong book groups!
And speaking of book groups, if yours has been letting you down lately, maybe you want to invest in a few of these bookplates? The same company who makes those (Pink Loves Brown) also has a fun design for dessert lovers and another for fans of umm… retro glasses? sexy librarians? Either or.

In anticipation of doing a post about fun and easy DIY bookmarks, I assembled a LONG list of links for you. Follow these if you’re looking for inspiration.
bookmarks with simple fabric flowers
hardwood bookmarks
free downloadable bird bookmarks
paint chip bookmarks
fabric bookmarks
more fabric bookmarks
origami heart bookmarks
love you bookmarks
easy recycled envelope bookmarks
Japanese paper dolls  you can use as bookmarks
ribbon bookmarks (design #1)
ribbon bookmarks (design #2)
magnetic photo bookmarks
When you’re finished making all those different bookmarks, maybe you’d be keen to create some nifty book vases? (via OnePrettyThing.com)
Or maybe some book letters?
They seem much easier to assemble than, say, this crazy beautiful but also crazy impractical “tower” of books that sits in writer Hank Moody’s study. (Yowza.)

Of course, if you’re more into cooking than crafting, you might prefer to spend your time making some pink pig pancakes. Or a feast for Dr. Seuss’s birthday. Or cupcake cake inspired by The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
For daily doses of crafting inspiration (some book-related, some not), I recommend becoming a regular reader of OnePrettyThing.com, which is chock full o’ links to crafts and recipes featured on other blogs. You can search for keywords (like “book“) on the site to fine-tune things.
Finally, a story: About a month before I left Wellesley Booksmith, Gayle Vonasek, former principal of the local Hardy Elementary School, stopped by the store to ask if I might have any creative ideas she could employ for a book-themed baby shower she was hosting for a fellow teacher. Did I?? After about an hour brainstorming with Gayle, showing her some favorite websites, and telling her all the things I did and didn’t make for Gareth’s and my wedding, I sent her off with a pile of F&G’s (“folded and gathered” picture book proof sheets) and a head full of ideas. The results were one wonderful baby shower! As follow-up, Gayle sent me several photos of the final results + explanations for what appears in each. I hope seeing these will give you some creative party-hosting inspiration too!
Gifts at the shower were displayed on a book case.

Gayle asked each guest to tell her about a favorite children’s book and explain why it was memorable. She explains, “I wrote the guest’s name on a library card pocket and the explanation on the library card.  The guest of honor and her mother tried to match the comments about the book with each guest.  Many guests also gave the book as a gift so the library pockets can be glued into each book for to preserve the memory.”

Title pages functioned as placemats on the tables.

The centerpieces were comprised of paper flowers Gayle assembled from F&Gs tucked into board books that Gayle had personally selected for the mother and baby-to-be.

She made a banner of book covers. (Again, from F&G’s, though a color photocopier + stack of books could create very similar fodder for such a thing.)

Forks for the buffet were tucked into library pockets.

Each guest at the party was sent home with a bookmark that featured beach reading recommendations from the guest of honor and her mother, and one of Gayle’s (now signature!) paper flowers.

Gayle cut some book images out of catalogs, glued them to construction paper, and created “toppers” for the desserts served at the buffet.

Needless to say, a good time was had by all!

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, this is my last week as a regular contributor to ShelfTalker. As such, Josie and Elizabeth are taking the week off (from blogging, that is, not bookselling) and I’ll be filling these spaces with a mish-mash of things I’ve been wanting to write about. Today’s theme: places you should visit and things you should see.
First and foremost: If you go to London anytime soon or come to New York City early next year,  SEE War Horse, which I first blogged about in July 2010, and which Lincoln Center will begin hosting beginning in March 2011. Gareth and I saw a performance in London while on our honeymoon, and we were utterly bowled over by it. It was, simply put, one of the best pieces of theater I’ve ever seen, and an incredibly moving adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s novel. (No, you don’t need to read the book before you see the play, and YES, it’s every bit as much for adults as for young adults, though I don’t think it’s a good fit for young children.) The puppetry by the Handspring Puppet Company is absolutely remarkable — their horses live and breathe and are far and away the true stars of this show. If you need still more convincing, listen to the piece about War Horse that aired on NPR’s “Morning Edition” in May of this year. And note that Steven Spielberg recently bought the film rights to the novel, but that does NOT mean you shouldn’t see it as a play!! Go! Go!
Another London tip: If children’s book business ever takes you to London, see if it can’t also take you to the roof (or almost roof) of the building that’s home to Puffin Books, and inside the offices of Walker Books. Gareth and I had the great pleasure of visiting both of these houses while in town, and met a lot of delightful and interesting people at both. In the first photo below, Gareth is standing with wonderful Lindsey Heaven (best name ever!) from Puffin who, as a ShelfTalker reader, invited me ages ago to come see the view from their building. Here’s how London looks from there.


And here’s a quick shot of Walker’s offices! I was so sidetracked by great conversations and discussions of Gareth’s books once we walked in the door that I failed to take any decent photos! (Boo.) Inside it’s bright and fun and friendly — just as you’d expect from a place that publishes the likes of Polly Dunbar and Bob Graham and Helen Oxenbury (and so on and so on and so on…)

NOW, let’s talk Paris. If you go to Paris, you should, of course, go to legendary independent bookstore Shakespeare and Company. It’s just like you’ve always pictured it, and it’s a terrific cacaphony of visual noise, if that makes any sense. It’s the kind of place you want to sink into… slowly… and stay for several days.



While in Paris, though, you should also visit the Red Wheelbarrow Bookstore — an English-language bookshop that is less well-known than Shakespeare and Company but just as filled with treasures. AND it boasts has a much better selection of children’s and YA books. Say hi to owner Penelope. She is LOVELY and the type of bookseller with whom you can have lengthy, intelligent conversations about pretty much anything, from what I could tell. She also made me feel like a TOTAL rock star when, well into our chatter about the book business, I mentioned that I blogged for ShelfTalker and she not only knew exactly who I was but then proceeded to tell me which one of my blog posts was her favorite. I had to do one of those, “Wait. We are in PARIS, right?” reality checks, and I have never in my life felt more like a rock star.



If you’re in Paris and looking for children’s books in French, I suggest visiting Les Enfants du Musee, the children’s bookstore at the Louvre, where I salivated over many a tome and considered spending many a Euro on books it would take me ages to wade through. (Those 5 years of French I took in junior high/high school are more than a little rusty now…)


Now Maine. What if you go to Maine (which I love almost as much as Paris — honestly)? Well, you should, of COURSE, visit Ashley Bryan, who says (honestly) that you’re ALL welcome at his place. If you go nowhere else in New England, EVER, go to Ashley’s house and spend time with Ashley. I honestly believe this trip should be top on your priority list.

If you like your books old and quirky, then en route to Ashley’s you should stop at The Big Chicken Barn in Ellsworth, Maine. It’s HUGE! And the second floor is second-hand books as far as the eye can see.

While you’re in New England, go to Cape Cod and visit both Titcomb’s Bookshop in East Sandwich (a general bookstore that specializes in new, used, and rare books) and Eight Cousins in Falmouth (which is primarily for children and teens but also includes a small, well-curated selection of books for adults). Both stores are run by some of the hardest-working and most devoted women in the book business, and both stores are ones I’d planned to feature in “photo tour” posts about two years ago, before time (at the time) got away from me! Here are a few posts of the lovely Titcomb’s, where Vicky Uminowicz (in the center, below) and her fellow booksellers (many of them her relatives!) will charm you with their sunny personalities and wow you with their knowledge of both used and new books.



And here are a few shots of Eight Cousins, which has some of the prettiest windows I’ve seen in a store, some of the most interesting selections, and one of the most dedicated women running it! If you’re a customer, Carol Chittenden will bend over backwards to find what you need, and if you’re an aspiring or beginning bookseller, she will give you all the advice and good wishes you could ever hope for. (I am always wowed by Carol’s generous contributions to both the NECBA and ABC listservs.)



And when you come to NYC, come visit my neighbor, the Little Red Lighthouse. Remember the picture book The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge by Hildegard Swift, illustrated by Lynd Ward (published in 1942 by Harcourt Brace)? The real, actual Little Red Lighthouse sits beneath the George Washington Bridge just a few blocks from the apartment where Gareth and I are now living, in Washington Heights. The lighthouse was saved from demolition in 1951, largely thanks to a letter-writing campaign by children who loved Swift’s book. I think that ALONE makes it worth a visit, which I why I am hoping to get there soon myself! The Urban Parks Dept. offers tours of the lighthouse from 1-4pm every 2nd Saturday of the month during the late spring, summer, and fall. Perhaps I’ll see you there?
Happy travels!

Beloved ShelfTalker readers, Gareth and I have finished our NYC move, we’re feeling (mostly) settled in, and I’m about to start my new job at Scholastic Book Clubs. As part of all of these changes I am also going to be taking my leave of ShelfTalker at the end of this week — and this time on a much more “permanent” basis.
I feel I said most of my good-byes and thank-yous back in April of 2009, when I announced that I’d be handing the ShelfTalker reins off to Josie and Elizabeth. I didn’t realize, at the time, that I’d wind up continuing to post as frequently as I have, nor that I’d wind up still being “part” of the blog long enough to see them do such fantastic things with it. You need only look at the number of comments their posts have generated of late to realize that, in their ShelfTalker tenure, Josie and Elizabeth have grown the audience for this blog and generated an incredible amount of content that readers have found both useful and entertaining. They have done with ShelfTalker all of the things I both hoped and thought it likely they would do! I know (believe me, I know!) just how much work it is to generate these posts on an almost-daily basis — especially when you’re juggling said work with the neverending task of running a bookstore. My hat is off to this dynamic duo for doing it both so long and so well, and I wish you all the continued joy of them!
After this week you won’t have *entirely* heard the last of me, as I may pop up now and again to do a guest post, and I WILL, most definitely, be returning soonish with a detailed how-to for making Bookish Birdhouses, as so many of you have been asking for one! I was hoping to have that post ready for you by now, but alas, my craft supplies are still in boxes and have not yet found a home in our new apartment. Once I can clear the way for them, I’ll be able to do the post right — as in, with helpful visuals. In any case, stay tuned for that, as I promise you the post is coming.
Before I go, though, I have a few orders of business to get through, all centered around one complaint. That complaint is that, to me,  my blogging experience has felt a bit like floating on a sea of unfinished business. There is, on any given day, an endless string of things I want to write about, for which I just can’t find the time! There are so many places I’ve been to and even photographed for you that never made their way into posts. There are so many books and authors I’ve wanted to rave about and oddities I’ve  wanted to highlight and trends I’ve wanted to examine and just random little things I’ve wanted to say. Soooo, for this, my final week as a regular ShelfTalker contributor, I’m going to do multiple posts, each offering you a few snippets of things that never landed here previously. This way my list of missed opportunities will be a bit shorter and you’ll have a bunch of fun tidbits to wade through in the coming days.
For today, I’m tossing you just this one tip (as you’ve already spent enough time reading this!): If you aren’t yet already reading Kate Beaton’s marvelous blog Hark! A Vagrant on a routine basis, please do so. She is wildly funny, ridiculously clever, and oh so well-read. LOTS of her cartoons feature authors (e.g. Edgar Allan Poe and Jules Verne) and/or stars of famous literature. Some of them even have children’s and teen literature-related themes, like Charlie and the Marvelous Turnip Factory, and an Edward Gorey covers-inspired round-up, in which a John Bellairs book gets the Beaton touch, AND the drawing at the very top of this post that refers, of course to Twilight. (Click on it to read the whole comic, which is actually part of a series about a 15th Century Peasant Romance. Bet you didn’t guess that!)  Gareth and I treated ourselves to a copy of Kate’s book Never Learn Anything from History, and we are so very, VERY glad we did. She is apparently also moving to NYC and Gareth’s and my secret hope is that we’ll someday have the opportunity to meet her, so we can tell her how much we love her work, aaaaaaand become her new best friends. Maybe. If she’ll have us! In the meantime, enjoy wading through the archives of her work, and look for more entertainment coming your way, from me, tomorrow.

It is a sad truth that bookselling, like so many other well-intentioned pursuits, is not immune to the ravages of Murphy’s Law (“anything that can go wrong, will, and at the worst possible time”). Fortunately, bookselling is a gentle art, and so the worst possible outcome is not along the lines of, say, botched brain surgery or the rupture of a rocket’s service module oxygen tank. The world will not end if something goes awry with a book order. However, I don’t advise saying this out loud to customers; relativistic reasoning does not soothe a teacher whose 50 copies of The Catcher in the Rye fell off a conveyor belt somewhere in the southeast.
Which got me thinking about the corollary to Murphy’s Law: Booksellers’ Bane. Booksellers’ Bane dictates that the moment you feel a sense of control over your business/customer relations approach/book knowledge/inventory, the gods of bookselling will laugh and toss you on your keister.
Minor examples of this phenomenon include:
1) The inevitable fact that after you have finally dismantled your stagnant Alphabet section—shelves that haven’t seen action since 2003—and integrated those titles into the regular picture books, you will receive twelve earnest requests in as many days for a “special area for alphabet books.”
2) That when you finally re-shelve a customer’s six-month-old special order (after having made three phone calls to the customer over that period of time to remind her of the book), somebody will buy it. And then the customer will come in, wanting it desperately, and be mad that you sold it.
3) The day you deep-clean the floor, either carpet or wood (it doesn’t matter), a freak storm blows through and people stamp their snow/mud/rain-covered feet all over your store.
4) That the minute you return that obscure philosophy book that’s been collecting dust on your shelves for two years, someone comes in, not only looking for it, but horrified/disgusted/offended that you don’t carry it.
Major examples of this phenomenon:
1) Just when you think you’ve got your little business off the ground, chain stores will start taking over the country.
2) Just when you think you’ve found a way to compete with the chain stores, an online megastore will start taking over the country.
3) Just when you think you’ve found your niche among the chain stores and online competition, publishers themselves will begin to sell directly to your customers, at higher discounts.
4) Just when you hope you’re wending your way through the obstacle course of competition from all sides (including the grocery stores, drugstores, discount clubs, big box stores, drycleaners, and clothing stores that are now in the game), books go digital.
Hahahahahaha!
Hmm, the minor examples are funnier.
Booksellers, what are your Bookseller Banes? (The minor, funny ones, please. I don’t think we’re up for any more of the real ones today!)

Tuesday was, as everyone knows, the launch date for Suzanne Collins’s Mockingjay, and like teenagers (and adults!) everywhere, I wanted to get my hands on a copy. Fast. There isn’t an independent bookstore, let alone a chain,  in our new neighborhood, which is like a hole in my heart. BUT I was saved this week by a short subway ride to the venerable Bank Street Bookstore, where I became one of many eager readers to purchase Mockingjay from their store this week, though a day too early to do so while face-to-face with Suzanne Collins (alas). I’ve been wanting to visit Bank Street for several years now — ever since I first met the amazing Beth Puffer, who has managed this store for a whopping 24 years (though you’d never know it to look at her). I had the pleasure of getting to know Beth when we served together on the board of the Association of Booksellers for Children, so I had big expectations for her store, and boy did it ever meet them!
What follows is a brief photo tour so that you’ll know your way around before you pay your first in-person visit (which I certainly hope you’ll do someday!).
First, the front. I love that the store sits on a corner. This means more windows, more light, and the all-important more awning space, making the store plainly visible to customers on the opposite side of Broadway, which is where I was when I took this picture. If you look closer at the awning (see photo above) you’ll see that it’s plainly clear, from the writing on the awning, just who this store is for AND, by extension, just what kind of books they carry, but that doesn’t stop people from coming in the door looking for run-of-the-mill grown-up books — e.g. bestselling novels and non-fiction. It saw it happen even during the brief time that I was there.

You walk through the doors and this (below) is the sight that greets you. Lovely, no? Two stories high, this is a BIG space, packed to the gills with tremendous books for kids of all ages and an enormous selection of educational resources and professional books for teachers too. (The store is owned by Bank Street College of Education, which accounts for the latter emphasis.) Somehow, though, the store manages to be both huge (especially by children’s bookstore standards) and extremely homey, which is why it’s such a pleasant space to browse. It’s also very neatly arranged, very well-organized, and seems not the least bit cluttered, in spite of all the stock (books, toys, teacher tools) filling the space. How does Beth do it?? I don’t know. But I enjoyed seeing the fruits of her labor and look forward to spending a LOT more time at this place.

To your left are the picture books. (I had serious fixture envy on behalf of many of you.)

Straight ahead of you are middle grade and young adult novels, plus lots of fun toys and other sidelines.

Here’s a display of recent middle grade and YA hardcovers. (When I took the photo above, these books were on my right.)

I love that they feature staff recommendations! Hallelujah!! What does every store need, I ask you? SHELF TALKERS. Preferably ones featuring recommendations from your own booksellers. They work like a charm, they build your store’s reputation as a place that’s “in the know,” and they act like “mini booksellers” — doing the work of humans when there’s no human standing right there beside the shelf. TRUST me on this, people. Be like Bank Street. Put ’em up!

That lecture done, let’s wander back here to the rear of the store where we are in Playmobil Heaven — or at least that’s where these two children CLEARLY thought they’d landed! It was so much fun to watch them ooh and ahh and hatch plans for their own creative play.

Now let’s traverse the LEFT side of the first floor, shall we? Here, first of all, is a close-up of some of the hardcover picture books being featured in Bank Street’s very large picture book section. FACE-OUTS are another thing every store should have lots of. I was pleased to see many more shelves like this one, and gratified to see that, yep — people were browsing them, which is just what face-outs invite people to do.

Looking back now to the left rear corner of the store. The board books are on my left, but you can’t see them in this picture. What you can see is a mother reading to her daughter. Clearly customers feel like they want to spend time in this wonderful place.

Now let’s head up the stairs to the second floor. Here’s the terrific view from the top of the stairwell. Books as far as the eye can see and plush toys lining the route between the two!

Remember what I said about windows? This store has so many of them, and they’re enormous! It makes the space feel so bright and airy.

Here’s the biography section — two full bookcases. Heaven.

And here’s poetry. Another two VERY full bookcases. Would that all stores could afford to devote this much space to poetry!

If you come up the stairs and look to your left, you’ll see the teacher resource section. (It starts over by that white pillar in the photo below). Here you can buy everything from borders for your bulletin boards to Cuisinaire rods to every book by Lucy Calkins. (I know this will mean something to the teachers among you.)

Here’s a close-up of one part of that section.

And now we’re headed back downstairs again. Isn’t it nice to see so many customers in the store?

Here’s a customer headed up front to make her purchases.

And here’s a shot of the front register and the Mockingjay display from which I purchased a book, in addition to an irresistible new toy called a Pig Popper, that works like a charm. An adorable pig charm.

As you walk out the door and turn left to cross 112th Street, look to your right across Broadway. That’s the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine there in the distance, on Amsterdam Ave. I recommend making that your next stop in the city. Unless, of course, you’re hurrying home to start reading the books you bought at Bank Street, which is what I did following this particular visit. NEXT time, though, I’ll spend more time in the neighborhood. I’m looking forward to there being lots of “next times” for visiting this wonderful, wonderful bookstore!

As promised, here is a rundown of our fabulous Mockingjay party. The most interesting part of the midnight sale was the sheer number of people who came to the party who hadn’t reserved a book. Almost 90% of our sales were to folks who hadn’t special ordered the book and this added to the air of excitement.

We had about 40 kids come to the store around 11pm when the festivities started.

I’ll be the first to admit, our party was pretty low-key, as midnight releases go. We created a fairly comprehensive quiz that each “tribute” was given when they came in. At midnight, we sold the book. I must say, after fourteen years of bookselling, I have yet to tire seeing a child hug a book, and there was a lot of hugging going on.
So, first the kids came in and some were in costume and that made it really fun. There weren’t many kids in costume, but these teens didn’t care. They embraced the spirit of the book and had a great time. Kids did the quiz and then they got prizes based on the number of correct answers they got. Everyone got a prize and all attendees got mini-brownie bites as a representation of what they might have gotten in the arena.

They were just thrilled to be getting the book  they’ve waited a year for. One really great thing to come from the event was all the kids, yes all of them, want to come back in six weeks for an in-depth book discussion about Mockingjay and the series as a whole. I love that this series has provoked such deep thought with the kids, and I can’t wait for the book group meeting.
So, now we read and enjoy the end of another great series. Booksellers, how was your Mockingjay release?

Never fear, ShelfTalker readers, we will have a post tomorrow, about our Mockingjay fun. Our party ended way too late for anyone to write anything coherently, so now take the day and read the book!