Meetings, meetings, meetings

Some people's jobs involve a lot of meetings. Maybe even enough that they find themselves complaining about the time they waste spend in these gatherings, where discussion may or may not be more rambling than productive. If this sounds familiar to you, I sympathize. But such is not the life of a bookseller.

For most of us, meetings are a rarity. Oh, we have shift meetings, where we get through about ten announcements in as many minutes. We even have occasional department meetings, which go a bit more in-depth. But such excuses to sit down only come about once in a while. And the type of meeting we had on Friday was rare enough to be a real treat. Debra the Candlewick rep came by, and she brought galleys.

Candlewick Press focuses on children's books, and it makes beautiful ones.

Fun ones.    Exciting ones.   Thought-provoking ones.   Needless to say, when Debra pulled out advance copies of the next round of books, we grabbed. I dove right into Girls Like Us, out in May (consider yourselves tortured), because the need to pass it around was obvious. It alternates between the viewpoints of two young women, both mentally challenged but in different ways, with distinct voices and responses to the sometimes harrowing way the world treats them. This is the sort of book that's going to start great discussions with customers. I can't wait to look more closely at the rest of the pile in my cubby. If this is what meetings are like, bring 'em on.