The other day, a mom came into the store raving about Jason Reynolds’s Ghost. While this is nothing new — it’s a perfect book — her reason for raving was that the book was a turning point for her son, who hadn’t ever loved a book (past the age of six) and could rarely be persuaded to open one voluntarily. Ghost captivated him, and proved to him that a book could be more than worth his while. He went on to read everything Jason has written, and was beyond thrilled when we gave him the ARC to Ghost‘s forthcoming sequel, Patina (both books published by Atheneum).
We’ve heard this story so many times in our 20 years, and so many different and unexpected books have been the turning point for young readers.  Continue reading →

Dear Staff:  Cynthia will be gone July 1st–8th, but reachable by text and (in emergency) on her cell phone. Please be aware of the five-hour time difference in London, and plan accordingly. As always, she trusts your judgement on returns, refunds, and other customer service issues. There is an extra set of keys at the dentist next door, and plenty of snacks in the fridge. Daily project lists are on the front counter, and most of the purchase orders you should receive are in the top drawer. (Let’s not get creative with pricing on these, OK?) Most importantly: any last-minute shift changes need to be logged in on the scheduling app (NO POST IT NOTES!), and please remember to bring the giraffe inside every night.
Continue reading →

As reported here earlier, James Nicol’s The Apprentice Witch was the winner of Summer’s All Glade Gather. This clearly called for further investigation! You see, The Apprentice Witch‘s victory will surprise no one who has read it, but the qualities which make the book so unusual are hard to define. There is something in the air of its world that causes a reader to breath deeply and be immersed. Its characters feel known to us, its forests trodden by our feet. To find out more about this story of a young Apprentice Witch, sent to a small country outpost when she inexplicably fails her exam, author James Nicol has kindly agreed to answer a few questions for us.
Kenny: I know you are planning The Apprentice Witch as a multi-book series. How much will Arianwyn age during the course of the story arc?
James: The plan is that by the end of book 3 (current contract in the U.K. is for three books in the series) we will have been with Arianwyn and all her friends (and foes!) for just over one year.
So she will have a birthday at some point! A few people have said it would be nice to see her age over several books, like Harry Potter, but as I’ve been planning the stories in books 2 and 3, time frames are a little more compact than The Apprentice Witch which happens over approximately 8 months, to something more like 3 or 4 months for the sequels.
Continue reading →

Spellbound’s tiny back room, approximately 70 square feet serving simultaneously as stock room, break room, and broom closet, reached a breaking point last week. Or, rather, I did.
Continue reading →

The phrase Where’s Waldo generally conjures searching for Waldo within a crowd favoring red and white striped garb. Not so for me this year. We have been running a Find Waldo Local event since they began, making this our sixth year, and I find myself looking for Waldo not in the pages of a book, but in our photo archives as I recollect all the DDG Waldos to wear the stripes. This is particularly true as July 4th rolls around. Our Waldo always marches in the Farmington July 4th parade. In fact we have two 2nd place ribbons to our credit. The parade is an awesome vehicle for distributing the passports. The DDG Waldo works the crowd, handing out hundreds of passports to the children lining the parade route, and does so in high style as our ribbons attest.
Yet the parade is just one of three DDG Waldo aspects. There is also July 31st party Waldo and around town delivering search items and collecting prizes from participating downtown merchants Waldo. Here then are our Where’s Waldos past and present.
Continue reading →

Great book swag makes the world a better place, but it is an ephemeral and unforgiving art form to be sure. A good idea is required, but even if you have one of those there are still many ways to fail. Take this swag for the Alice in Wonderland themed Whatever After book, Abby in Wonderland.
Continue reading →

“Are you eligible for any discounts today? Are you a teacher, or perhaps a grandparent?”
We train our staff at the store to begin each transaction with these phrases, both to underscore our commitment to local schools but also to politely sidestep the awkwardness of asking a customer if they are old enough to have grandchildren. The discount for grandma and grandpa is small — only 10% — but its acknowledgment almost always elicits a proud smile, and we follow up with a request to see pictures while we’re wrapping their gifts. There’s usually a rather complicated list: this group in Chicago, this bunch here in town, and one or two in…. somewhere too far away to see frequently. Often, too, there’s the grandchildren that live with just mom, or just dad, or some calendarized combination that also includes stepparents and their children, all of whom have birthdays and special days carefully noted.
Continue reading →

“Elizabeth?” said my co-worker, Sandy’s, voice on the other end of the phone. “We have a bit of a situation.”
Every business owner dreads hearing those words, especially on her one day off a week.
While most people hail Saturdays as the start of their weekend, Wednesdays are mine. Occasionally I’ll agree to a sales meeting if I absolutely have to, but I usually try to hold that day sacred. Two weeks ago, I was feeling great on my “weekend” day: I’d just worked out and was having brunch with a friend at a new place about a half hour outside of town. That’s when the phone call came.
Continue reading →

Over the last few months, Spellbound has been collaborating with one of our local independent toy stores on a series of workshops for kids called the Social Justice League. Some of the workshops are held at the toy store and some at the bookstore.  It’s been a great way to introduce kids to ways they can make a difference and be better citizens. As a bonus, it’s also led to strengthening customer and community ties.
Continue reading →