For the past few weeks I’ve been listening, again, to the audio recordings of all three books in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. Though this is probably my second or third time experiencing these books on audio I’ve been wanting to revisit them this way ever since I saw the movie version of The Golden Compass, as I wanted to hear the books "performed" for me in full — the way I’d have liked to have seen them on the big screen.

It was wonderful timing, then, to have all these character’s voices in my head again when I received a coveted envelope from Random House, bearing the page proofs of Once Upon a Time in the North, the His Dark Materials companion "episode" being published this April. Like Lyra’s Oxford, which was published in 2003, this short (approx. 100 pages) book gives us a glimpse of something that happened outside the timeline of His Dark Materials but features characters who appear in Pullman’s beloved (except where it’s hated) trilogy.

Once Upon a Time in the North is the story of one of Lee Scoresby’s early aeronautical adventures, the adventure that brings him face-to-furry-face with Iorek Byrnison for the first time. It’s a rollicking little ride of a book — a cold-climate Western, if you will, complete with gunslingers and wanton women (at least Lee wishes they were wanton) and Hester. Sweet, wonderful Hester. Best dang daemon any gunslinger could hope for.

Having found Lyra’s Oxford a bit disappointing, I didn’t expect much from this slim volume, but I was truly, VERY pleasantly surprised. It was a real treat to have a glimpse into the past of two of my favorite of Philip Pullman’s characters, AND to find a glimpse of one character’s future, too. The last couple of pages of this book reveal a bit of what’s happened to Lyra, in the days since, well… you know — the stuff that happened at the end of The Amber Spyglass. It gave me a little thrill to find some evidence of her more recent whereabouts. And it made me hunger for more of her story too!

The wait may not be too much longer: In recent interviews Pullman has said that The Book of Dust could possibly be published as soon as 2009. Did you miss his interview with Charlie Rose a couple weeks ago? Well, then you’re missing out. Fortunately you can watch the ENTIRE INTERVIEW online.

If you’re looking for my own personal thoughts on The Penderwicks on Gardham Street, I’m afraid you’re not going to find them here. I have not yet read the book, because it’s been in such high demand by others working at or reviewing galleys for our store! One of the latter is 14-year-old Caroline Joyce, a student at Wellesley Middle School who is currently reading through the galleys in my office at a speed several times my own. She couldn’t wait to get her hands on this particular ARC! What follows is Caroline’s wonderfully enthusiastic review. (And, YES, there are SPOILERS here! Consider yourself warned.)

The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall
(Knopf Books for Young Readers, April 2008)
Reviewed by Caroline Joyce

I first discovered The Penderwicks about a year ago. My family was on a long plane ride and I was bored. My mom, who thinks of everything, had gone to the library and gotten us books, and I the moody teenager had discarded most of the ones that she brought along. I am not a good person when I am bored. I whine, and I get grumpy. As a last resort my mom handed me The Penderwicks, thinking maybe I’d like it. I loved it!

Imagine my surprise then, when I’m downstairs in Alison’s Cave of Wonders (otherwise known as her office and galley storeroom) and see the galley for the sequel, The Penderwicks on Gardham Street!!

I have finals to study for but the book sits on the corner of my desk almost beckoning to me. I swear I can hear it speaking. At 10:00pm my resistance breaks down and I just have to read it! Sadly at 11:30pm I have to put down this amazing and marvelous book because my parents are starting to get a little annoyed, and I really don’t feel like pulling a Harry Potter (784 pages in 6 hours – I think that’s a record!). The next day I finally finish the book in an hour.

This book starts off with the Penderwick family back at home on Gardam Street. (Hence the title The Penderwicks on Gardam Street.) Rosalind the oldest is 12, then comes Skye the sporty one (age 10), followed by her creative sister Jane (a mature 9), and, last but not least, Batty, who is only 4 years old but has quite a mastery of the English language.

Since their mother died 4 years ago it’s just been the sisters and their dad, until Aunt Claire comes with a letter telling Mr. Penderwick that he must date again. The letter, of course, is from the girls’ dead mother (which I just think is morbid, but anyway…). No one in the family is happy about this idea, except for Aunt Claire who seems just a little too excited about it. Rosalind in particular seems a little shaken; she obviously still has some grief issues.

In the sequel we are introduced to many new characters, including a new neighbor who is a single mother and works at the University with Mr. Penderwick. (He’s a botanist while she specializes in astrophysics.) Yes, you may be thinking, “This is a book about Mr. Penderwick starting to date, right? And there is a single mother living next door to him who also works at the same place as him? I think I know what happens!” You know what! You’re right! The ending of this book is very predictable but that’s what makes it so awesome!

There are other neighbors in the book, the Geigers to be exact. Nick is a senior in high school and a football player while Tommy is Rosalind’s age. (Cue Donny Osmond: “And they calllll ittttt PUUUUUUUUPPPPYYYY LLLLLLLOOOOOVVVVVVE!!!”)

When the girls really do start confiding in their neighbor they come to think of her as a mother figure, which turns into a “Let’s set Daddy up with Ms. Aaronson!” plan. It’s a bit quick, this change of heart, but what the heck! Ms. Birdsall can pull it off. There is also a bit of a side story in which there is a creepy stalker guy trying to steal Ms. Aaronson’s work, but the girls plus Tommy pull off some amazing superhero stunts that are so cool that they’re almost unbelievable yet still made me want to sign up for Tae Kwon Doe lessons.

Throughout the entire book you will be laughing and cheering along with the Penderwicks and their extended family. I now randomly quote the book, much to the annoyance of my friends, he he he.

While the book says that it is for those aged 8-12 I think that it is for anyone and everyone. I am 14 and still loved it more then most books out there (e.g. Gossip Girl.) Personally I think that the second Penderwick book is the best, and now I am just waiting for the third!

Gareth has been working from home since last March, when he left his day job in the video game industry with the goal of illustrating full-time. Since then he’s been reveling in the joys of self-employment, as many artists and writers do when they aren’t bemoaning the cost of single-payer health care, worrying about the source of their next paycheck, or missing the company of others engaged in similar work.

Last week Gareth e-mailed me to announce that he’d found his new theme song. I laughed out loud when I heard the lyrics to this VERY catchy little tune by They Might Be Giants that many of you may feel you can relate to, and most of you are likely to find very entertaining (though you might find this song is stuck in your head for days — consider yourselves warned)! It’s animated in kid-friendly/grown-up-friendly fashion and viewable by way of This Might Be a Wiki, the They Might Be Giants knowledge base. If you get a kick out of it, you might want to subscribe to TMBG’s free podcasts. Click on the image below to get this party started…

Watching the video again before posting it here, it suddenly struck me that the line drawings (in particular the animated ones during the "practice trumpet every day" section) look like they could’ve been done by Laura Ljungkvist, author/illustrator of (most recently) Follow the Line Through the House. I’ve got no reason to think that Laura actually DID do the drawings for that TMBG animation, but the very talented Laura would certainly have been capable of doing so! Perhaps, though, she’s been too busy working on Follow the Line Around the World, which is due out in May 2008 from Viking.

We got hit with a pretty significant snowstorm on Monday, which pretty much turned the world to white. This time the snow has really clung to the bushes and trees, making Boston and its surrounding towns look like something out of a fairy tale, even after the snow has long since melted off the roads (thank goodness).

On my drive to work on Tuesday, curving around a bend in a back road, I suddenly felt like I’d caught a glimpse of Narnia. Passing by a converted rail trail I took a quick look down its track and saw a white path framed by over-arching trees, all of them coated in white. If I’d had a camera with me then I’d have stopped to take a picture. Alas, mine was a camera-less commute. Wanting, though, to capture a bit of this C.S. Lewis-like phenomenon, I grabbed the store’s camera and walked over to the Wellesley College campus in the afternoon, where I was suddenly struck with the most incredible realization. Here I was, looking for a snowy space that resembled Narnia, when I realized that the lampposts lining Wellesley’s campus are the PERFECT Narnia lampposts!! I don’t know why I’d never noticed it before!

I will say that the true Narnia effect had been ruined a bit by the fact that the footpath was perfectly free of snow, making it clear that none of these lampposts is actually just standing in the middle of the forest. But I took some pictures nonetheless. And I do think they capture a bit of that "world outside a magical wardrobe" effect. You tell me whether or not you agree.

How perfect would this have been when that snow was newly fallen and that lamp was lit?

Imagine the same things with this photo, and notice the beauty of that heavily laden evergreen.

I cropped the path out of this picture to set the scene a bit better.

   

My dream photo: the shot below, but with one of those lampposts standing right in the middle of it.

The down side of the snow sticking to every green surface in sight is the terrible effect it’s having on the trees in all our neighborhoods. I can’t remember a time when I’ve seen so many substantial branches collapse under the weight of all that white stuff. But, boy, you take away that reality and it really does look like we’re living in some magical place!

There is not (as yet) any such thing as The Morris Medal, but every year when I get frustrated with the titles I see getting left off everyone else’s "Best of the Year" picks, I think maybe there ought to be! I’ve been intermittently adding to my list of "Morris Medal Contenders" as 2007 has progressed, and what follows is how this year’s results would look, were actual Morris Medals being minted. Or printed on shiny self-adhesive paper.

Note that because this is my award, I can select as many Medalists and Honor books as my little heart desires, and I’ve exploited that fact, though at the expense of being able to put links in for all of these titles (there are just too many!). Note, too, that I add and subtract categories from my Medals list every year, because some years there are books that fit them well, and other years there are not. In the same vein, some categories have honor books this year, and some don’t. That’s just the way I’ve decided to do things this time, and it’s kind of nice, actually, that these awards aren’t "real" so I don’t have to take any actual flack for those changes!

That having been said, let me explain that just because I don’t have actual tangible medals to award to this year’s Morris Medalists and Honor recipients, that doesn’t mean I love their books any less. My sentiments here are the real thing, even if the medals aren’t.

Titles within each category are listed alphabetically by author’s last name, not by any "I like you more than this book but less than that book" or "this author was especially nice to me at such-and-such conference" ranking system.

Also, on the topic of authors being nice to me, I recused myself from the voting for any books adapted and illustrated by Gareth Hinds, because I feel my ability to be impartial regarding said books has been extremely compromised by 10 months of blissful cohabitation. Gareth supported this decision.

And one more thing: I know there are probably great books missing from each award category, but honestly? I haven’t read every single novel that came out this year, nor have I necessarily seen every picture book. If your novel or picture book or misc. nonfiction title hasn’t made it onto this list of accolades, just assume that I didn’t read it or see it, but that I will in the very near future, okay? That way no one has to feel insulted, and I suffer a lot less guilt over the number of books I’m not getting to nowadays.

And now… The lack of envelope please:

The 2008 Morris Medal for Best Book Illustration goes to 6 books this year (listed alphabetically by author’s last name):

Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal by Paul Fleischman, illustrated by Julie Paschkis

The Castle on Hester Street by Linda Heller, illustrated by Boris Kulikov

The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear, illustrated by Stephane Jorisch

17 Things I’m Not Allowed to Do Anymore by Jenny Offill and Nancy Carpenter

The Arrival by Shaun Tan

Here’s a Little Poem: A Very First Book of Poetry collected by Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters, illustrated by Polly Dunbar

Honor Books (there are 18 this year, again listed alphabetically by author’s last name):

The Nightingale by Hans Christian Anderson, illustrated by Igor Oleynikov

The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen, retold by Stephen Mitchell, illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher

New Clothes for New Year’s Day by Hyun-Joo Bae

Deep in the Swamp by Donna M. Bateman, illustrated by Brian Lies

Let It Shine by Ashley Bryan

The Golden Rule by Ilene Cooper, illustrated by Gabi Swiatkowska

Mary and the Mouse, the Mouse and Mary by Beverly Donofrio and Barbara McClintock

Orange Pear Apple Bear by Emily Gravett

The Chicken-Chasing Queen of Lamar County by Janice N. Harrington, illustrated by Shelley Jackson

Little Eagle by Chen Jiang Hong

Today and Today by Kobayashi Issa, illustrated by G. Brian Karas

Waiting for Mama by Tae-Joon Lee, illustrated by Dong-Sung Kim

Henry’s Freedom Box by Ellen Levine, illustrated by Kadir Nelson

Red Butterfly: How a Princess Smuggled the Secret of Silk Out of China by Deborah Noyes, illustrated by Sophie Blackall

How to Paint the Portrait of a Bird by Jacques Prévert, translated and illustrated by Mordicai Gerstein

The Invention of Hugo Cabret (a novel) by Brian Selznick

I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean by Kevin Sherry

Robot Dreams by Sara Varon

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The 2008 Morris Medal for Best Writing in a Picture Book goes to:

The Castle on Hester Street by Linda Heller, illustrated by Boris Kulikov
(Apparently the text of this book is 25 years old, but it’s presented in this edition with new illustrations and the text was new to ME this year, so… It qualifies. Because I make up the rules here, remember?)

Pink by Nan Gregory, illustrated by Luc Melanson

Honor Books:

 I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean by Kevin Sherry

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The 2008 Morris Medal for the Most Engaging Middle Grade Novel of the Year goes to:

The Arrival by Shaun Tan

A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban

Honor Books:

Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate

Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis

When I Crossed No-Bob by Margaret McMullan

The Invention of Hugo Cabret (a novel) by Brian Selznick

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

Robot Dreams by Sara Varon

The Aurora County All-Stars by Deborah Wiles

Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson

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The 2008 Morris Medal for the Most Engaging Young Adult Novel of the Year goes to:

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean

Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow by James Sturm, illustrated by Rich Tommaso

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The 2008 Morris Medal for Best Writing in a Graphic Novel goes to:

Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow by James Sturm, illustrated by Rich Tommaso

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

The 2008 Morris Medal for Best Illustrations in a Graphic Novel goes to:

The Arrival by Shaun Tan

Honor Books:

Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow by James Sturm, illustrated by Rich Tommaso

Robot Dreams by Sara Varon

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The 2008 Morris Medal for Best Beginning Reader Book goes to:

Dodsworth in New York by Tim Egan

The Cat on the Mat Is Flat by Andy Griffiths

Honor Books:

Wiggle and Waggle by Caroline Arnold and Mary Peterson

Little Rat Makes Music by Monika Bang Campbell, illustrated by Molly Bang

My Friend Is Sad by Mo Willems

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The 2008 Morris Medal for Best Book of Poetry goes to:

The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear, illustrated by Stephane Jorisch

Here’s a Little Poem: A Very First Book of Poetry collected by Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters, illustrated by Polly Dunbar

Honor Books:

Today and Today by Kobayashi Issa, illustrated by G. Brian Karas

T
ap
Dancing on the Roof: Sijo Poems by Linda Sue Park, illustrated by Istvan Banyai

This Is Just to Say: Poems of Forgiveness and Apology by Joyce Sidman

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

The 2008 Morris Medal for Best Read-Aloud goes to:

That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown by Cressida Cowell

Here’s a Little Poem: A Very First Book of Poetry collected by Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters, illustrated by Polly Dunbar

Honor Books:

Young Cornrows Callin Out the Moon by Ruth Forman

I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean by Kevin Sherry

The Aurora County All-Stars by Deborah Wiles

Who Likes Rain? by Wong Herbert Yee

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The 2008 Morris Medal for the Book Most Likely to Entertain a Toddler goes to:

What’s Wrong, Little Pookie? by Sandra Boynton

Penguin by Polly Dunbar

The Police Cloud by Christophe Niemann

Here’s a Little Poem: A Very First Book of Poetry collected by Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters, illustrated by Polly Dunbar

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

The 2008 Morris Medal for Best Children’s or Young Adult Book to Give to Your Adult Friends goes to:

A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

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

The 2008 Morris Medal for Best Book to Give to Your Teacher Friends & Their Classroom Libraries goes to:

Vinnie and Abraham by Dawn FitzGerald, illustrated by Catherine Stock

Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal: A Worldwide Cinderella by Paul Fleischman, illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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The 2008 Morris Medal for the Best Ways to Beat Boredom goes to:

101 Things You Gotta Do Before You’re 12 by Joanne O’Sullivan

Squiggles: A Really Giant Drawing and Painting Book by Taro Gomi

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

The 2008 Morris Medal for Best Non-Fiction Book goes to:

The Secret of Priest’s Grotto: A Holocaust Survival Story by Peter Lane Taylor with Christos Nicola

Honor Books:

Disguised: A Wartime Memoir by Rita la Fontaine de Clercq Zubli

Vinnie and Abraham by Dawn FitzGerald, illustrated by Catherine Stock

Lightship by Brian Floca

One Thousand Tracings: Healing the Wounds of World War II by Lita Judge

Strong Man: The Story of Charles Atlas by Meghan McCarthy

Jesse Owens: Fastest Man Alive by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Eric Velasquez

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The 2008 Morris Medal for the Book That Made Me Laugh the Loudest goes to:

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban

Honor Books:

Millie Waits for the Mail by Alexander Steffensmeier

Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend by Mélanie Watt

The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs (This is a book for grown-ups, but I had to include it here because it DEFINITELY qualifies for this award — just ask anyone who was near when I was reading it!)

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The 2008 Morris Medal for the Book That Made Me the Teariest goes to:

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate

Today and Today by Kobayashi Issa, illustrated by G. Brian Karas

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The 2008 Morris Medal for The Book(s) I Most Wish I’d Discovered in My Childhood goes to:

How Tom Beat Captain Najork and His Hired Sportsmen by Russell Hoban, illustrated by Quentin Blake

A Near Thing for Captain Najork by Russell Hoban, illustrated by Quentin Blake

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The 2008 Morris Medal for the Most Kid-Friendly Book of the Year goes to:

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

Honor Books:

The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies

The Cat on the Mat Is Flat by Andy Griffiths

How Big Is It? A Book All About Bigness by Ben Hillman

Do Unto Otters: A Book About Manners by Laurie Keller

Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy by Jane O’Connor, illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser

I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean by Kevin Sherry

A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban

Knuffle Bunny Too by Mo Willems

 **************************

I’m still reeling a bit from the surprises that came with yesterday’s announcement of the ALA’s biggest book awards. After months of speculating about the likelihood of The Invention of Hugo Cabret being awarded a Caldecott Honor at least, I was nevertheless shocked to see a Caldecott committee bold or forward-thinking enough to give it top billing. WOW!!

And THEN to have the Newbery committee make such an unusual and creative choice too?? I found it rather thrilling, to be honest with you. And I also found it quite satisfying for a different reason too. The editor of Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! at Candlewick Press is Mary Lee Donovan, who happens to be brilliant and long-overdue for accolades at exactly this level. While it’s true that Mary Lee is my editor and I therefore have some very personal insight into her talents, my editorial relationship with her has really only just begun. No, my knowledge of Mary Lee’s abilities comes primarily from the work I’ve done as a buyer and the conversations I’ve had with other people about Mary Lee’s editing skills. I see the types of books she chooses, I read the books she edits, and I’ve spoken with a lot of authors she’s worked with — all of whom seem to think she’s brilliant. Seeing the work Mary Lee gets out of them suggests that that is indeed the case. And now there are going to be a lot of shiny gold seals in the world acting as proof!

I rarely hear much discussion, at least among booksellers, about which editors are behind the books at the top of the annual heap, but the longer I’m in this business, the more I appreciate the part they’ve played in getting these books to that position. It’s in large part their eyes for talent and editorial instincts that make each year’s pool of potential award-winners such a deep one. So, authors, illustrators AND editors of the year’s best books (both those applauded today and those not) I tip my hat to you. Thanks for another great year of reading.

Those of you who doubt the importance of handselling or the power of wee indie booksellers, sit up and take notice! Consider the case of A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban, previously mentioned by yours truly on this very blog. This book might have lounged in relative obscurity in our store, selling a copy or two to those lucky few customers who happened to glance at our shelves and find its spine appealing. But because a couple of us read it early on, loved it, and championed it to the rest of our staff and to our customers, we managed to sell more than one or two last year. In fact, we sold well over a hundred.

How did we work this kind of magic with a novel by a first-time author? I’ve put together a handy timeline for you, so you can watch the handselling magic unfold.

6/29/07 – I order four copies of A Crooked Kind of Perfect when I buy the Harcourt Fall 2007 list from my then-Harcourt sales rep, Zoe Lawler. I might have bought only two copies or skipped it altogether, as the book is by a new author whose talents I know nothing about and for whom there’s no sales record on which I might otherwise be able to base my decision. But the book sounds appealing, and Zoe says good things about it, so I bump the number up a bit. Four it is.

6/20/07 – My summer intern, Elizabeth Wolfson, and I attend a New England Children’s Booksellers Advisory Council meeting, at which we hear Kristen McLean, executive director of the Association of Booksellers for Children, proclaim that A Crooked Kind of Perfect is one of the best books she’s read all year. I look at the galley, which has a completely different cover from the book I saw in the Harcourt catalog, and only barely make the connection between the two. (Note to publishers: this is why it’s best to finalize your cover designs EARLY. But you already know that, right?)

Approx. 8/7/07 – On Kristen’s recommendation, Elizabeth reads our store’s galley of A Crooked Kind of Perfect, loves it, and tells me so.

8/14/07 – Four copies of A Crooked Kind of Perfect arrive at Wellesley Booksmith. Elizabeth shelves them, turns them face out on the shelf, and writes a brief review of the book on a shelf talker to sit underneath the small stack.

8/22/07 – I fall in love with A Crooked Kind of Perfect, write a blog post about said love, write an additional shelf talker singing the book’s praises and put it up next to Elizabeth’s shelf talker. Two shelf talkers side-by-side? We’ve never done it before, but I can’t resist. I order more copies of the book.

AUGUST SALES: 11 copies

Approx. 9/10/07 –  Our gift buyer, Alexa, and I create a display that features Little Miss Matched socks and copies of A Crooked Kind of Perfect, the cover of which just happens to feature very similar looking socks. The display will migrate at some point and get rearranged quite a bit, but both books AND socks will be displayed side-by-side until after Christmas. My shelf talker moves over to this display, thus ending the twin talkers beneath the same title. The book is now displayed face-out in two places, with a shelf talker calling attention to each. I am now handselling the book to everyone within earshot.

SEPTEMBER SALES: 15 copies

10/4/07, 10/11/07, and 10/17/07 – I include A Crooked Kind of Perfect in three different book talks to three different groups of teachers and parents. Margaret, another of our wonderful booksellers, reads the book and also begins handselling it.

OCTOBER SALES: 29 copies

11/5/07 – Lorna reads the book, falls under its spell, and joins those of us on the "handselling this book like crazy" bandwagon.

11/20/07 – We include A Crooked Kind of Perfect in our store’s booklet of holiday recommendations for all ages. We put copies of the booklet in customers’ bags and hand them out to anyone browsing in the store. By this point almost everyone our staff is handselling the book with reckless abandon, either because they’ve read the book themselves or heard the rest of us raving about it. Meanwhile the book continues to sell itself from the two places where it’s still on display, face-out, with a shelf talker.

NOVEMBER SALES: 30 copies

12/10/07 – Linda Urban sends us signed bookplates to put in copies of her book. I sticker them with store stickers that say "SIGNED BOOK" but write the word "bookplate" under "SIGNED" so that no one feels cheated. This is the first time I’ve gone to such lengths for a book with a signed bookplate. It feels good. And it feels like maybe everyone in town is picking up this particular book, because I’m having to restock it so often.

12/23/07 – Gareth and I visit his family in Montpelier, Vt., home of Linda Urban. We meet Linda for coffee. She and I hit it off immediately, "talk bookselling" for two hours, then "talk books" in Bear Pond, one of several great bookstores in Montpelier. I breathe a sigh of relief, because it’s always reassuring to find that the author behind a book you love is themselves worth loving. (It’s so jarring when you discover the opposite!) Here we are, looking chummy:

OUR DECEMBER SALES: 53 copies

TOTAL SALES of A Crooked Kind of Perfect at Wellesley Booksmith in 2007: 138 copies (Go, us!)

Lest you think that this is a magical anomaly — that the type of thing that only happens for one book a year — stand corrected. Those book talks I gave back in October? They featured about a hundred other books, most of which got similiar treatment to this one throughout our holiday season. Some of them fared as well as Linda Urban’s little masterpiece, and some did not. The reasons for this vary: an unappealing cover on this one, a slightly more narrow audience on that one, a tougher topic on something else. But every year a lot of books that are NOT bestsellers everywhere still wind up on our store’s bestseller list, and the same thing happens at independent bookstores all over the country, with each store’s lists looking very different from one another.

Here’s a random sampling from the many, many other books that benefitted from a lot of handselling at our store this year, plus their sales numbers, so you can compare:

The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies (Houghton Mifflin, $16.00 hardcover) — 252 copies (It’s true, Jackie’s a local author and we sold 59 copies of her book in its first month at the store, when she did an event with us. But I promise you that most of the 193 additional copies we’ve sold since April were NOT the result of Jackie’s local connections. They happened because we talked this book up to everyone, put it on our summer reading list, and then eventually let word of mouth carry it onward. We sold 31 copies in December alone.)

Here’s a Little Poem: A Very First Book of Poetry edited by Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters, illustrated by Polly Dunbar (Candlewick Press, $21.99 hardcover) — 84 copies  (This is a $22 book and it sits in our
p
oetry section — two marks against it. Working in its favor is the simple fact that we all love it, it’s now my favorite shower or new baby gift recommendation, and we put it on our holiday gift list.)

Darby by Jonathan Scott Fuqua (Candlewick Press, $5.99 paperback) — 192 copies (It took Candlewick four years to finally bring this book out in paperback, but in that time they came up with a new cover for the book that, in conjunction with the shelf talker I wrote for it, has worked some kind of paperback sales miracle. This one was also on our summer reading list.)

Alabama Moon by Watt Key (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $16.00 hardcover) — 158 copies (This is our second year handselling this book to everyone in sight. It was on our holiday gift list last year and our summer reading list this year. Sales to date: 228. FSG, can we see this book in paperback soon, please?)

Listening for Lions by Gloria Whelan (Harper Collins, $5.99 paperback) — 81 copies (Shelf talker, summer reading list, a favorite among many of our booksellers. I describe it as The Secret Garden meets Annie meets Out of Africa. For some reason that usually does the trick!)

Wiggle and Waggle by Caroline Arnold, illustrated by Mary Peterson (Charlesbridge, $12.95 hardcover) — 75 copies (Quite possibly our most successful sales to date of a hardcover beginning reader book. The secret: A shelf talker written by Elizabeth, and a spot on our holiday gift list.)

Every Kid Needs a Marshmallow Launcher by Richard and Candice Elton (Gibbs Smith, $19.95 spiral binding) — 39 copies (We started carrying this book in November of ’05, so it’s not exactly new, but our sales this year eclipsed last year’s by a substantial margin, because one of our booksellers, Betty, decided it was the coolest thing ever and started putting it in the hands of our customers — 14 of them in December of this year.)

And the hits just keep coming…

The first two weeks of January feel a bit like "cleaning house" at the store, as we take down all the Christmas displays and decorations, examine our sales from the past year, pull books that haven’t sold in several months, prepare to do an inventory of everything on our shelves, and start fresh with everything in good, trim working order, with enough space to accommodate all the incoming spring books.

When it comes to pulling books to be returned to their publishers during these two weeks, though, I become (metaphorically) the worst kind of nail-biter, and a cynical one at that. As I look over inventory reports for each of our publishers deciding what books to weed, I become convinced that the titles I’m returning are going to win a major award when the ALA announces their "big ones" — this year it’s next Monday, January 14th.

Murphy’s Law and prior experience pretty much guarantee that this is going to happen with at least one of the books we’ve returned at some point during the year. That title that came in last January and we returned in June because it still hadn’t sold a single copy? It’s going to win the Caldecott Medal. That middle grade novel I originally ordered just two copies of, haven’t heard a peep about, haven’t had a chance to read, and haven’t seen any marketing for? You know that the Newbery committee is going to give it an Honor five minutes after UPS carts it away in a returns box.

It is painful beyond painful to have had a book on your shelves, have returned it (whether you knew it and loved it or not) and then have to scramble to get your hands on more copies in the awards day frenzy that wipes out every available book in your distributors’ warehouses and the publishers’ shelves. What’s hard is trying to explain to customers that you aren’t a "BAD" bookstore or a clueless bookseller, just because you couldn’t predict that, out of a pool of hundreds of potential winners, these 15 or so books will be the ones everyone would want come January and didn’t, therefore, order vast quantities of them before the big announcements. Years of *trying* to predict, failing, and winding up with too many extra copies of this book or that book have left me gun shy as far as making bold predictions goes. And as for the possibility of spreading things a bit thinner, imagine if I ordered 20 copies of each of the titles on this Mock Caldecott list (chosen at random from those that appeared in my Google search), for example. Our shelves would bulge at the seams, I’d be obscenely over-budget, and… well, you can guess the rest. Hello, unemployment!

Why not wait until after January 14 to return books, you ask? Because after January 14 we are busy, busy, busy with sales rep after sales rep, which leaves Lorna and me little time to spend on the big task of weeding the previous year’s leftovers. More importantly, Evelyn, our store’s accounting guru (and one of our owners!), has worked out some expert sort of returns schedule that we are loathe to deviate from. If she says it’s the week to send books back to Random House, we do.

Except maybe for that book — the one that I think *maybe* the Printz committee will have had their eye on. Or that title that, golly, I REALLY would love to see get *something*, as it’s about time that illustrator got some notice! Or… well, you get the idea. Just don’t be surprised if you see me chasing after the UPS truck next Monday. Or pleading with the Fed Ex guy. Or just bashing my head against the wall.

In mid-December I managed to escape the retail frenzy just long enough to spend a few pre-Christmas days with family. My cousin Morgan graduated Dec. 15th from a doctorate program in physical therapy at East Tennessee State University, and I wouldn’t have missed seeing her meet this monumental milestone. The bonus of a weekend at ETSU was its proximity to beautiful Asheville, N.C., home of Vanderbilt’s Biltmore House and the wonderful 25 year-old Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café, which I visited twice — once on Sunday night and once (during daylight hours) on Monday. While I didn’t get to meet their children’s buyer or spend as much time there as I’d have liked, I was in the store long to snap some photos and observe a few of the finer details that makes them the unique and wonderful store that they are!

Publishers Weekly‘s "Bookseller of the Year" in 2000, Malaprops was featured last year in a "Bookselling This Week" article that detailed many of the goings-on that make them such an integral part of their community. While I didn’t get to observe any of their many events or programs, I did enjoy browsing the shelves in their homey space, which sports a number of cozy nooks, lots of entertaining posters, some rather inventive signs, and the sort of quirky details that makes a store both unique and lovable. The result is a space that’s anything but stale or stuffy — two traits that also appear to be lacking in the personalities of their booksellers, thank goodness.

Here’s how Malaprop’s looks as you approach it from the opposite side of the street:

Below is a shot of its eye-catching corner sign, which is barely visible behind the street signs in the photo above:

Malaprop’s upcoming author events (and books by those authors) are prominently displayed alongside their bestsellers in the store’s front window:

You know you’re making friends when talents like Barry Moser are willing to create a poster for your store. You can purchase prints of this one:

Yes, there is actually a bookseller behind the point of sale counter in this photo! He’s unfortunately obscured by the postcard rack in the foreground, but I swear he’s there, ably answering the questions of the customer in the long black coat.

Look at the far left-hand side of the photo above. See the cardboard cutout of a man pointing to his left? That’s Stephen Colbert, instructing customers on where to leave their bags while they’re browsing. (The sign reads "Stop! Baggage Check.") A brilliant use of a cardboard standee, if you ask me! There’s a better photo of it below:

Here’s a shot of the store cafe, which is on the opposite side of the store from the point of sale counter, facing the street.

It’s hard to find clever, affordable seating for your customers to utilize while browsing. I love the classic school desk idea, as captured here:

Here’s a shot of the YA section, behind a mixed display of YA and middle grade. I like that the section looks wonderfully full but still features a number of face-outs — a must-have if you ask me:

Below are, of course, the picture books:

Look at the lower left-hand corner of the photo above. The sign closest to it is the one captured much larger below:

It strikes a slightly-more-threatening tone than the sign that appears one shelf above it and a bit to the right. Here’s what it says:

I wonder if Candlewick Press ever thought they’d be spawning a phenomenon that would require the creation of signs like this one:

Also on the topic of signs, I love the sign that lists the Malaprop’s café’s list of Specialty Drinks.  My photo came out awfully blurry, but if you can see through the fuzz you’ll be able to read their list of offerings, which includes the Anais Nin (raspberry mocha), the Isabel Allende (cinnamon mocha), the Robert Frost (mint mocha), the Rita Mae Brown (vanilla hazelnut latte), the White Rabbit (white chocolate latte), the Gail Godwin (caramel mocha), the Deepak Chopra (white and dark mocha), the Tom Robbins (coconut mocha), and the Walt Whitman (macadamia nut latte). Since seeing this sign I have spent far too much time considering what drinks I would assign to different authors’ names. Anyone have suggestions?

I’m always intrigued by how stores choose to label their sections. Our assortment of books on topics like divorce, adoption, new siblings, death & dying is labeled and referred to by our staff as "Family Issues." I think we might be better off adopting Malaprop’s much more positive-sounding label for these books, which appears below:

I also like this Malaprop’s label better than "Teen Issues" which is what our teen non-fiction section has historically been called:

I also like to see stores using clever and informative bookmarks to keep their customers in the know. When we’re given signed bookplates I often go back and forth on whether or not we should actually stick them into the books, and if we do, whether or not those books then quality for a "signed copy" sticker. Perhaps we should just go this route and include a "Signed Bookplates Available with Purchase (while supplies last)" bookmark like this one:

And doesn’t it make you feel like you’re part of a special place if you pick up a book that announces itself this way?

In case you can’t read this one it says, "Sorry you missed this author (frowny face). Happily, we have SIGNED COPIES! (smiley face)":

When you first walk into Malaprop’s you are greeted by a "Staff Favorites" section that fills three entire b
oo
kcases. If that doesn’t send the "WE READ BOOKS" message, I’m not sure what does. Here’s a shot of one of those three cases:

This store is home to one of the largest (and best) "regional" sections I’ve ever seen in a store. Theirs includes local guides, local authors, local history, Southern writers, and more. It fills the entirety of the space you see below, at the back of the store’s café:

In addition to a great selection of books, Malaprop’s offers plenty of entertaining and gift-worthy "non-book" items to fill out your purchase or add to someone’s stocking. Here’s a customer (my dad) laughing at one of the many items of merchandise on display, while another customer (my mom) gazes at another:

So, the next time you’re heading down to North Carolina with a plan of seeing this place (Vanderbilt’s summer estate):

Be sure to stop by this place as well: