Alex Is Reading....BOOKS FULL OF PRIDE!!

Woo hoo! It's the first day of June! That means two things. One: it is now allowed to be hot and humid and sun-boilingly summery outside. (Hence, it is raining and cold.)

Two: it is PRIDE MONTH. The Booksmith will be celebrating Pride Month with a lovely display of selected LGBT+ titles from around the store--but there are a few (a lot!) of good books that are just not going to fit. 

You don't want to miss any of the good stuff! So here is a guide to great LGBT+ titles for kids and young adults that you can find on our shelves (or in our online store) every day.

~*~*~*~SO MANY GOOD LGBT+ BOOKS~*~*~*~
for kids and young adults


PICTURE BOOKS

Red: A Crayon's Story by Michael Hall - Red says "red" on the wrapper, but he always seems to come out more...blue? How is he supposed to be happy when everyone expects him to be something he's not? If this story seems like it might be about a transgender crayon, that's because it totally is. (And yes, it also carries a universal message of being true to yourself.)

Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman, illustrated by Laura Cornell - The picture book classic is back in print with all new bright, lush, kid-friendly watercolor illustrations. You can also find Newman's books Mommy, Mama, and Me and Daddy, Papa, and Me in the board book section.

Stella Brings the Family by Miriam B. Schiffer - It's bring your mother to school day, but Stella has two fathers. What will she do? BRING THEM INSTEAD!

And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, illustrated by Henry Cole - The last of our picture books about same-sex parents, featuring world famous penguins. We don't have to talk about gay parenting via penguins anymore, but this book is still sweet as anything and lovely to look at.

Jacob's New Dress by Sarah Hoffman and Ian Hoffman, illustrated by Chris Case - A gender nonconforming little boy celebrates the wonders of his beautiful wardrobe.

I Am Jazz by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings, illustrated by Shelagh McNicholas -Famous real-life transgender girl Jazz Jennings shares her life with young readers.

INTERMEDIATE FICTION

Better Nate Than Ever and Five, Six, Seven, Nate by Tim Federle - Two autobiographical novels about a small-town gay boy who ran away to the big city to fulfill his Broadway dreams.

Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polonsky - Sixth-grader Grayson doesn't feel like the boy everyone thinks she is--but she's smart enough to know that people won't be happy when they find out. She decides, despite her fears, to try out for the female lead in the class play. This may prove once and for all who she can trust and who she can't, but it will also prove that Grayson can stay true to herself no matter what.

And be on the lookout in August for George by Alex Gino. George, too, wants to show her colors on the stage as part of coming out in real life, but her voice and her story are all her own.

YOUNG ADULT FICTION & NONFICTION

Queer: The Ultimate LGBT Guide for Teens by Kathy Belge and Mark Bieschke - (Nonfiction) Everyone starts figuring things out somewhere, and there is no rule that says you can't have help. 

Rethinking Normal by Katie Rain Hill - (Nonfiction) You might think that the small town of Okay, Oklahoma is not the best place for a teenager to come out as a trans girl. And you would be right. But Katie Rain Hill did it anyway. Now she's a trans rights activist, a college student, and the author of this candid, charming memoir, chock full of personality and personal truth.

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli - OH. MY. GOSH. THIS. BOOK. It's a little about blackmail and quite a bit about coming out (WITHOUT IT BEING A DISASTER!!!), a lot about friendship, and SO MUCH about being a big old high school nerd who likes theatre and Doctor Who and falls in glorious, goofy, miraculous love with a boy you (maybe) haven't even met.

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray - A plane full of pageant contestants crashes on a not-so-deserted island and takes on the patriarchy. Among the survivors: at least one lesbian, and the most fabulous trans girl of all time. Acerbic, meta, and weird as heck.

Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg - Sometimes you get tired of being The Gay Kid, so when you move to a new school, you come out as...straight. The question is, how's the payoff? Is it better to have the (not always very awesome) spotlight on you, or to hide a crucial part of who you are all the time, in front of everybody? 

(Also check out Konigsberg's new book, The Porcupine of Truth, which involves missing relatives, dying deadbeat dads, paper porkers that determine your destiny, and a new best friend who is, alas, a very cool lesbian recently rendered homeless by a not so accepting family.)

There are so many more! Anything by David Levithan, and Amy will certainly recommend you Jandy Nelson's award-winning I'll Give You the Sun--new stuff comes out all the time and we're happy to share it with you.

From all over the Booksmith, happy June and happy reading!

MORE YOUNG ADULT! MORE MORE MORE.

If you have come into the store recently, you might have noticed that things feel slightly different right around the young adult section. That is because, let me gleefully tell you, this year the YA section achieved the holy bookstore grail of MORE SHELF SPACE. We now have an entire extra bookcase for this awesome and beloved (and you know we love it--have you seen all the recs we have up over there?) section. And we are doing everything we can with it.

Point One--We have a nonfiction section! From biography to history to self-help, you can check out the top shelf for some truly excellent books. Model is Cheryl Diamond's memoir of entering the cutthroat world of high fashion in NYC. In The Pregnancy Project, teenager Gaby Rodriguez feigns pregnancy to find out firsthand the limits of people's acceptance. Award-winning children's author Jack Gantos relates his time in prison in Hole in My Life. And here you can also find National Book Award winner Brown Girl Dreaming.

Point Two--Below nonfiction you will also find YA poetry and short story anthologies! Pro tip: short stories are a great way to find new authors, get around an antsy brain, or read on public transit. The Great War is a new anthology of World War II stories by incredible authors, each based on a real relic from the war. Love and Profanity will bring you a more modern realistic angle, and Rags & Bones is a very cool collection of retold classics. For poetry, try Please Excuse This Poem: 100 New Poets For the Next Generation.

Point Three--All of your devoted kids' booksellers got to suggest some older books to bring in, books we desperately want to give you so that you can be as happy about them as we are. There are a bunch (and you should ask us when you see us what they are), but here are a few.

Kylie brought in The Looking Glass by Jessica Arnold, a quaint story about a girl who goes to a B&B with her family and then gets sucked into a Victorian version of the hotel by an angry ghost who probably wants to kill her. She also picked Kenneth Oppel's exuberant and exhilarating steampunk novel Airborn, which is one of her favorite books OF ALL TIME.

Clarissa picked Lauren DeStefano's Wither, the first book in the Chemical Garden Trilogy--a dystopian romance of epic bioengineering proportions--and Rick Yancey's The Monstrumologist, a satisfyingly creepy blend of mystery, horror, and monster thriller.

Amy got us four-books-in-one Balefire, which includes secret twins, secret magic, and New Orleans witchcraft--basically everything good--and Amelia Atwater-Rhodes's Den of Shadows Quartet, which is absolutely delightful supernatural fantasy about tough girls, beautiful guys, and scary close-knit families with weapons and magic powers. Also, AA-R wrote them as a teenager. We should all be so awesome.

I, Alex asked for the Chronicles of Chrestomanci by Diana Wynne Jones, because they are brain-tickling, lively, funny, wonderful fantasies. And if you like Supernatural or The Raven Boys or witchy, demonic, delightful books with great plots, you need to read Sarah Rees Brennan's The Demon's Lexicon IMMEDIATELY.

There are other things happening in our department happening all the time, and we will tell you about more of them soon. For now, come browse our bigger, better, more ultimate YA section! You will find happiness there. It is full of good things.

Kidsmith Presents: Television Inspired Literature

We're obsessed. It's all we can think about. It's all we talk about. It's all I'm going to blog about today: Reign. CW's drama about Mary, Queen of Scots is a show a few of us children's booksellers discovered and fell in love with. Naturally after we watched all available episodes we sought out other ways to feed our obsession in the form of books. Thus, it has inspired a new monthly feature on the blog brought to you by the kidsmith booksellers.

Television Inspired Literature will go up once a month. We know first hand that book lovers can also be TV lovers and want to share our obsessions with you. Based on popular TV shows, we've come up with some YA book titles that you might enjoy if you like the show. If you have any suggestions for TV shows we should feature or books we may have missed let us know in the comments!

Without further ado may I present the first Television Inspired Literature:

Alex Is Reading...ABSOLUTELY TRULY

Oh, WINTER. We may only have been having the cold then kind of warm then cold again and almost snowing? but actually just RAINING FOREVER kind of winter so far, but in the glorious world of fiction, winter has real snow, new friends, book shops, birdwatching, and decades-old mysteries. In Heather Vogel Frederick's new book Absolutely Truly, Truly is struggling with some big changes. Her dad has changed since he lost an arm in Afghanistan, and her family has just packed up and moved from Texas to extremely tiny Pumpkin Falls, New Hampshire. But with a bookstore to save from going under, a mystery that starts with a first edition of Charlotte's Web, and a couple of classmates who would love to help her solve it, Truly might just be okay.

When you're done reading about Truly, check out...

Five Great Intermediate Mysteries

Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliet -- Art theft, two clever kids, and an air of the paranormal.


The Westing Game (A Puzzle Mystery) by Ellen Raskin -- A dead millionaire leaves behind a will that names the 16 residents of Sunset Towers Apartments his heirs...but one of them is the murderer, and only one will walk away with the money. (This one is a Newbery Medal winning classic, and one of my all-time favorites.)

All The Wrong Questions series by Lemony Snicket-- So far there are three books in this quirky sleuth series by the author of A Series of Unfortunate Events. A little bit of comedy, a little bit of noir.

Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage -- Moses LeBeau may have washed ashore in a hurricane, but the family that found her is the family that matters most. But an unsolved murder puts that at risk, and Moses will have to solve that murder if she's going to protect the ones she loves...

So B. It  by Sarah Weeks -- Heidi's mentally disabled mother only speaks a handful of words, but one of them might hold a world of meaning: soof. Heidi is off across the country in search of the meaning of this one word--the what or the who--which might explain how her unusual, wonderful family came to be.

Five More if You Like Absolutely Truly

Close to Famous by Joan Bauer -- Foster and her mother may have trouble in their past, but they're determined to make it work in their new town. With Foster's baking and her mother's beautiful voice, they soon find a place. The question is, will they be ready when the past shows up to test them?

The Mother-Daughter Book Club series by Heather Vogel Frederick -- For more of Heather Frederick, more about family, more about books, and more about smart, curious girl protagonists.

Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson -- Ginny's fly-by-night aunt dies before Ginny even knows she's sick. But before she can even grieve, Ginny gets her inheritance: a little blue envelope that will start her on a journey across Europe, to find adventure, love, and strength in herself.

Savvy by Ingrid Law -- Everyone in Mibs's family has a savvy--a sort of magic power. Mibs's power is just waking up...and her father is in the hospital after a car crash. She needs to get to him, because she knows her power can save his life...but it's a long way, she can't drive, and the new preacher in town might be a little too interested in what her family is up to.

A Long Way From Chicago and A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck -- For a dash of historical fiction, take a couple of city kids from the 1930s and throw them into the small-town countryside to stay with their grandmother for deliciously old-fashioned, funny adventures. 

And that's what I suggest for you this fortnight. Happy reading!

Which kids' or YA bestseller describes your life???

Social media is a hot topic around the store these days, so I thought I'd blatantly steal a format I've seen succeed all over Facebook. Is there anything you'd like to see on our social media? Let us know! Now, on to important matters....

Which setting sounds most appealing?
A. a snowy mountain
B. the popular kids' table
C. an American city whose neighborhoods have their own personalities
D. a European city full of art and tortured artists

Something is bothering you. What do you do?
A. run and hide until you just have to let your feelings out
B. write about it in your diary
C. confront it. Bravery is your defining quality! Your only one! Really!
D. get as much as you can out of today anyway

 What do you like to do with your friends?
A. build a snowman
B. talk about your crushes
C. jump off moving trains
D. track down your favorite authors

Where are you most likely to be found on a Saturday night?
A. Frost Ice Bar. The cold never bothered you anyway.
B. at a party... and then home telling your diary what a disaster it was
C. showing off your bravery and hiding your other traits
D. rereading your favorite book and agonizing over its ending 

Mostly A's: Your life is like Frozen: The Big Golden Book. Congratulations on being yourself, even if it means dancing in the snow in July! 

Mostly B's: Your life is like the Dork Diaries books. Congratulations on being yourself, even if it means you're a dork!

Mostly C's: Your life is like Divergent: Congratulations on being yourself, even if you have to be dauntless to do so!

Mostly D's: Your life is like The Fault in Our Stars (purely in terms of personality, I hope). Congratulations on being loveable enough to make an entire generation cry. 

You must be this tall to read The Fault in Our Stars.

This happened when The Hunger Games hit the big screen, too. When a popular YA novel becomes a

popular movie, kids who maybe aren't quite in the "young adult" age bracket yet start begging to read it. Because their classmates have read it and/or seen the movie, and the ads are everywhere, and come on, Mom! Here at the bookstore, we start getting a lot of questions along the lines of, "What age is this book for?"

Rather than giving a hard number, I usually respond by describing the book and mentioning anything I think parents would want to know about. The Fault in Our Stars is about teens who meet in a cancer support group and fall in love. For some parents, that information is enough to make a decision. Others are apprehensively okay with that, but are absolutely not okay with the presence of a neither graphic nor gratuitous sex scene (and by "not gratuitous," I mean "between two people in an unusual situation who know that waiting isn't much of an option and want to get what they can out of life").

I don't give a hard number because you know better than I what your kids already know, what they've already seen on TV, what they're ready to handle. That's true of the brief and really really not graphic sexual content, but I think it's even truer of the larger themes of terminal illness. This book is entertaining and even very funny in some places, and much of its value is in the big questions its characters consider about what makes a life meaningful. But it's also a book that might be upsetting to some readers - preteen, teen, or adult. As with any book, we'll share what we know about its content as honestly as we can. But you know your family and your family's experiences better than we do. So do your kids (and I've seen great, honest conversations between parents and kids who decided together to wait on a book).

If you or your kids do decide to read TFIOS, we'll be waiting with plenty of happy, escapist recommendations when you're ready to choose your next book.

#WeNeedDiverseBooks. (We have some. We need more.)

I'm writing this before the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign officially begins, and the hashtag is already trending on Twitter. People from all walks of the reading life are posting reasons we need more books for kids and teens that reflect the way our world really looks, and I couldn't be prouder of how it's catching on.

It's a fact of life as a brick-and-mortar store that we exist in one spot, and our demographics reflect that spot. But if you picture Brookline as an area where everyone looks, talks, and thinks alike, I urge you to look and listen to the people around you next time you walk through our doors. This is a place where a recent Chinese immigrant might ask where the bar mitzvah cards are. It's a place where you'll probably hear three or four languages in the course of a day. It's a place where I've seen firsthand that some things, especially some things about kids, are universal: a smile and a "she's so cute!" works across a language barrier, and parents from everywhere know that babies need books safe for chewing. It's also a place where adults use the YA section along with other sections as a resource for LGBT fiction, and where many parents light up when you tell them that a chapter book takes place in "Africa, amazing Africa!" Mommy, Mama, and Me sells here. So does Buenas Noches, Gorila. So does The Snowy Day, to customers of all colors and, for whatever reason, in all seasons. (I'm not complaining.) Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is rocking out. So is Out of My Mind. By and large, our customers recognize that there are people of all kinds in the world and welcome opportunities to share that truth with their kids.

A major goal of the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign is to combat the pervasive belief that "the market" won't support books with more diversity. I'm definitely not pretending that we - that I - don't have room to grow in the literature we read and produce and sell, but I hope we can serve as a small example of how #WeNeedDiverseBooks, because somebody bought the last copy on the shelf and it's time to restock.

I Swear This Author Knows Me

Three new books I'm excited we have in the kids section!

1.Spirit Animals 3: Blood Ties by Garth Nix and Sean Williams
I am eager to see what Nix and Williams do with what Stiefvater and Mull set up.

2. Who's in the Tree by Craig Shuttlewood
I was delighted by this rhyming, lift-the-flap picture book. I excitedly handed it off to my fellow kids booksellers. Shoshana even read it for Story time yesterday

3. Flight of Angels by Rebecca Guay and various
Okay, this one isn't strictly speaking a kids book. It could be older YA with someone like Holly Black submitting a story. The point is that it's beautiful and we have it.

I, like a lot of people, love quotes. I love when one gets stuck in your head or when you can think of a perfect one for something that happens, or as a snarky response to someone. There's a sort of kinship in finding a quote that means something to you, like you and the author understand each other.

One of my favorite quotes is actually about this feeling. It's from Alan Bennett's play The History Boys: “The best moments in reading are when you come across something – a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things – that you’d thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you’ve never met, maybe even someone long dead. And it's as if a hand has come out, and taken yours."

It's was an immediate favorite as soon as I heard it (admittedly, having seen the movie before reading the play) because that's so exactly true. I've read so many things and had these moments of just thinking "Yes! That! Exactly that!" Sometimes they're just moments, rare little lights in a character in that doesn't ordinarily remind you of yourself but sometimes it's a whole narrator who just has a really strong streak of you in them.

And that got me thinking about some of my favorite narrators. Characters who I saw so much of myself in. I was in middle school when Quizilla was big (I'm dating myself, I think). Quizilla was (is?) this website that let you make quizzes, a lot like the ones that Buzzfeed has out now. My favorites were always the "Which character from [insert book title here] are you?" It made me think a lot about why I liked the characters I liked and how similar or different I was to my favorites and even my least favorites.

Unsurprisingly, some of my favorites are ones that remind me of myself. That make me feel like I'm not the only one who thinks or feels a certain way about something. I thought that I would tell you about a couple that stuck with me.

1. Mara Dyer from The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
This is probably an interesting choice since she spends quite a bit of time being unsure what is real and what's not but she has a really similar thought process to me (should I be admitting that?). I would be reading and would react to something a character said the same way she would. She's cynical, snarky, and unapologetic about it and I always appreciate a character who makes no excuses about who they are.

2. Cullen Witter from Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley
I never stop talking about this book (and likely never will). I've had more than one person read it and tell me that Cullen reminded them of me. Cullen has a defensive sort of sarcasm that he uses often when he's not sure what's going on. His first reaction to things is always to try and be clever and more often then not he speaks without thinking. And his family is a large part of who he is.

3. Amelia Hayes from Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo
This is such an unflinching look at the awkwardness of 15 year old girls and their crushes. I, as stoic as I try to be now, was one of those girls. I had an immediate kinship with Amelia, wanting to be older and seen more mature by her family. I flinched and had to pause to take a breath when awkward things happened (having the benefit of years to know that it wouldn't end like she hoped).

4. Puck Connolly from The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
She's fierce and strong and willing to do anything to she needs to to protect her family. Her voice is dry and clever. Puck is headstrong and often just says what she means and does what she thinks is best, regardless of what others think. She has such a unique perspective on the races, going into them as an underdog and playing by her own rules.

5. Tris Prior from Divergent by Veronica Roth
Tris' conflict within herself sets us up for discovering her world. It was easy to be in her head because she struggles with ideas that are so similar to what everyone struggles with. And she gets emotional but not overly so very often. It was awesome to have found a YA narrator who looked at things so logically and in a way that made sense to me. I felt I would have done much the same thing in her place multiple times throughout the series.


Honorable Mention (because she's not technically narrator but you're in her head enough):
Keladry of Mindelan from The Protector of the Small by Tamora Pierce
I wanted to much to be just like Kel when I was young (I still do). I was a really emotional little kid and my sisters took full advantage of that (as siblings are wont to do). As I got older I learned to mask that a little and Kel was great at that. I found her right when I embraced myself for who I was and stopped letting what everyone else thought bother me. And she's the perfect embodiment of that. She's clever enough to be witty and to know when to keep her mouth shut but she is who she is. Always.

The thing about all of these characters is that I felt like they saw the world the same way that I do, or relate to people the same. It's easy, I think, to fall in love with a character. To love their adventurous nature and their language but it's different to see yourself in one so strongly to just have what they do make sense. To feel like you're part of their story because you would have made the same decision. It's like getting a glimpse of what you're own life would be like in that world.

-Amy

Signs that spring has come to the kids' section

There is no snow on the floor. (There is occasional frozen yogurt on the table.)

We have books like this,

 

this,

and this.


There are new releases in bloom.

Loyal young fans flock to the store, asking if the books they've been waiting for are out yet.



Sorry, Selection fans - The One isn't out yet, though we're happy to reserve it for you. When it shows up on May 6, we promise to rush it to the shelves.


We booksellers are bursting to recommend the ones we've read in advance.


You'll know it's April 8 when Amy and I start racing to handsell you John Corey Whaley's latest.

Also! New Mo Willems! April 1! Not a joke! I repeat, this is not a joke!



It's spring, you guys. It's almost reading-outside weather. Come. Get books.

Before they were cool: Newbery, Caldecott, and other ALA Youth Media Award winners

When Journey came in, Clarissa showed it to everyone. "Look! Isn't this gorgeous? GAAAAAAAAH!" (Possibly not her exact words, but a reasonable approximation, as anyone who's seen Clarissa get excited about a book can attest.) (Now it has a Caldecott Honor.)


When Doll Bones came in, longtime Holly Black fan Amy wrote a recommendation and started handselling. If the sales figures are any indication, she's helped the book reach quite a few of Brookline's young readers. (Now it has a Newbery Honor.)



When Flora and Ulysses came in, I had every intention of popularizing the phrase "holy unanticipated occurrences!" That didn't really happen, but I did have fun selling the book. (Now it has the Newbery Medal.)



When Locomotive came in, Paul was all, "I love that book!" I imagine that his kids were, too. (Now it has the Caldecott Medal.)






When a gaggle of YA authors including Rainbow Rowell and David Levithan came to the store, a gaggle of us - the kids' team plus Kat plus Anna plus possibly whoever I'm forgetting - not only stayed for the event, we waited until the loooong signing line was gone so we could get our own books signed, chat with the authors, and sample the pumpkin mocha breve muffins one fan had left for Rainbow. (Now Eleanor and Park has a Printz Honor, and Two Boys Kissing has a Stonewall Honor.)

The full list of winners, announced last Monday, is here. There were less familiar books that went immediately onto our to-read lists, and there were books left off that we'll lovingly recommend anyway. (Like this one.) But it's nice to be able to brag a little: we (and, in many cases, our customers) liked these books before they were cool.

Top 10 observations on our top 25 kids' books of 2013

For those who prefer their lists in words, Booksmith's top 25 kids' and young adult bestsellers for 2013 were:

1. The Lighting Thief

2. The Hunger Games

3. The Fault in Our Stars

4. Charlie & the Chocolate Factory

5. Divergent

6. Make Way for Ducklings

7. The Book Thief

8. Wonder

9. Diary of a Wimpy Kid 9: Hard Luck

10. Good Night Boston

11. The House of Hades

12. Hello Boston

13. The One & Only Ivan

14. Looking for Alaska

15. The Very Hungry Caterpillar (board book)

16. The Day the Crayons Quit

17. Zolocolor

18. Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Sight

19. Mockingjay

20. Good Night Gorilla (board book)

21. Ivy & Bean (book one)

22. A Big Guy Took My Ball

23. Anna Hibiscus (book one)

24. Let’s Go for a Drive

25. Goodnight Moon (board book)

A few observations:


Bostonians have a lot of hometown pride, and visitors to Boston are pretty proud, too. (Good Night Boston doesn't beat Goodnight Moon just anywhere.)

Local schools have a lot of sway around here. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory attained its high position largely because of a school order, and a lot of the (best) titles on the list were helped along by the Brookline Schools' summer reading program. I'm looking at you, Anna Hibiscus, Wonder, and The One and Only Ivan.

Speaking of Anna Hibiscus, handselling is powerful. Many of us love this charming, funny chapter book about a girl in "Africa, amazing Africa," and we recommend it to fans of Clementine and Ivy + Bean. It's nice to know that a book can be a bestseller here even if it's not necessarily a bestseller nationally.

Our bestsellers aren't dominated by any age group or genre. There are stories here of bullying, of demigods, of fights to the death on fictional reality TV, of ducks who find homes and of crayons who quit.

Our customers know that a book doesn't have to be shiny-new to be worth reading. They also know that if Jeff Kinney or Rick Riordan writes a new book, it's time to run, not walk, to the bookstore.

Movies are good for books, at least from a sales perspective. (I'll leave the debate on the artistic value of movie adaptations to you.) Popular new books are good for an author's old books. (Looking for Alaska has sold better, both here and nationally, since the success of The Fault in Our Stars and of John Green's online platform than it did when it came our or when it won the Printz.)

Elephant and Piggie will eventually take over the world.

Adults have discovered YA in a big way. Heck, they've even discovered intermediate fiction. At least a few of the Wonder purchases were for adult book clubs, and I hear it's been a citywide read in some places.

Still, our number-one seller, kids' or YA, was the first book in an intermediate series that's wildly popular with kids and has a fairly small adult readership. Amazing as it is to see adults discover our section, it's also nice to see that the kids' section is still about kids.

You have good taste, Brookline.

Happy 2014.

Dear Mr. Claus,

I've never written to you before, and I'm not going to start asking for things now. I just wanted to say thanks for some gifts that have already arrived this year. If anyone else is responsible, I hope you'll relay my gratitude; I'm told you've got connections.

Thank you, Mr. Claus, for the slew of smart, fun picture books this year. Books like Xander's Panda Party for young biologists; Rosie Revere, Engineer for young logical thinkers; and The Day the Crayons Quit for young artists and activists.

Thank you for the kinds of intermediate novels that Wonder made cool, like Counting by Sevens and The Thing About Luck; for Greek gods and wimpy kids who bring the young readers to us in droves; and for the classics that parents and grandparents are still bursting to share. Every time Anne of Green Gables rings up, an angel gets her wings.

Thank you for YA that never forgets to be awesome.

Thank you for knowledgeable, generous, funny coworkers, and for customers who express joy when they see us busy.

Enjoy the holiday, Mr. Claus. And if you need a few more book suggestions for the children of the world, my impression is that you know where to find us. We'll leave the milk and cookies in the break room. 

Yours merrily,

An appreciative children's bookseller

Today's teens will be running the world soon. Here's why I'm not worried.

We had 150 people at a YA event a couple of weeks ago. Most of them were teenagers. Some of them had driven in from out-of-state. They waited patiently to meet the authors of these books (psssst: we still have some signed copies):

   

It was an evening about identity and lots of things that impact it, from sexuality to family to standards of beauty to fanfic.

This time of year, we keep a particularly close eye on big sellers to make sure their spots on the shelves are well-stocked. A lot of those titles at the moment are from the YA section. Among those we're checking hour-by-hour, largely because they've become popular enough for their own movies, are:



A trilogy about one way society could go very wrong, and one teen who puts everything on the line to fix it. (I notice that Mockingjay, which picks up right where the current movie leaves off, has been disappearing particularly quickly.)



A novel about the Holocaust from a unique perspective.



A novel about what makes a life valuable from the point of view of a teen with terminal cancer.


Another dystopian trilogy, which also examines how we form our identities.

Looking for a gift for a teen? We've got it. Looking for a gift for yourself? You might want to ask a teenager. They have pretty good taste.

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.

Three real winners

This weekend, I attended the Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards and the Horn Book at Simmons Colloquium, which focuses on the books that were honored. Though a bit lesser-known than the Newbery and Caldecott Awards, the BGHBs are a high honor within the children's book community, and the winners often don't get enough attention. (Heck, these days even the Newbery and Caldecott don't make it onto the Today show.) This year's winners were all books we're enthusiastic about here, so I thought I'd give them some screen time.

The Picture Book Winner:

Building Our House, by Jonathan Bean

With spare text but very informative (and very '70s) illustrations, Jonathan Bean tells the story of how his family built their own house when they moved to the country. This one is a must for any budding engineer. Just ask Paul about how he and his family have embraced Bean's work; Bean's new book, Big Snow, "makes [his] heart sing!!"

The Fiction Winner: 

Eleanor and Park, by Rainbow Rowell

This young adult novel is romantic but not just about the romance. It has characters with big problems, but it isn't just about those problems. It's funny, sometimes even while it's heartbreaking. It takes place in the '80s, but you can get it without having experienced them. John Green loved it. What more do you need to know?

The Nonfiction Winner:

Electric Ben, by Robert Byrd

Don't be fooled by the thinness of this picture book biography. It's full of information, arranged for maximum grabability. Ben Franklin had personality, and by the end of the book, you'll feel like you're on a nickname basis with him.

There's variety in kids' and YA books, is what I'm saying. Particularly in good kids' and YA books.

Happy Banned Books Week from a pretty darned intellectually free place

Everyone has a different idea of what constitutes "appropriate content."

I've talked with a lot of parents about what's right and what's not right for their kids to read. Some parents want to avoid anything "scary." Others ask about the The Hunger Games and relax as soon as they learn that although it's about teenagers being forced to fight to the death, it doesn't have any sexual content. Many shoppers are a little more anxious when they're looking for gifts for someone else's kids, which I can understand; it's one thing to say that your own kids are ready for a book that contains x, y, or z, and it's another thing to be the aunt who brought the book.

What I love about the customers in our kids' section, though, is that the question is pretty much always what's appropriate for the particular kid in question, not what should be published or be on our shelves. (Once, long ago, a customer told me casually that he wished we wouldn't stock Barbie books. I don't love them either, but I believe in their right to be here as long as people want them. In any case, that was the end of it.) People around here seem to get that what's all wrong for one reader might be just right for another; even siblings have different levels of scariness tolerance or ability to understand difficult topics.

If you ask me about what's in a book, I'll be as honest as possible to the best of my knowledge and recollection. (I apologize now if I don't remember that s-word on page 342.) When I give you the summary of a book, if something controversial is an important part of it, I'll tell you that up-front. What constitutes "controversial" changes over the years, of course. LGBT characters, for example, are gradually becoming the norm in young adult books, and their presence isn't necessarily the thing the book's about anymore. (That's a little less true of books for younger readers, and if you're looking at the graphic novel Drama for an eight-year-old, for instance, I may mention to you that there are some boys with crushes on boys just in case this is the reader's first introduction to that sort of thing.)

In any case, I'm very, very glad that Brookline seems to be cool with our having books on all sorts of topics that kids might wonder about. And as always, if you have questions about anything, just ask.

Happy Banned Books Week.

If It's What's Inside That Counts Why Did You Have to Change the Cover?

Hullo!

First off, I want to tell you the three books I am most excited about us getting in the kids department since I last spoke to you:
1. Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins (my love for it's companion book Anna and the French Kiss is pretty much legendary).
2. Journey by Aaron Becker (Shoshana called it Harold and the Purple Crayon meets The Wizard of Oz).
3. The Boy Who Swam with Piranhas by David Almond (I have a thing about piranhas plus a childhood love of David Almond and a current love of illustrator Oliver Jeffers).

Now on to today's ramble.

So, I’m kind of a Harry Potter fan (says the girl with the sign of the Deathly Hallows tattooed on her wrist while wearing a tee-shirt with the Hogwarts crest on it) and in case anyone was unaware, at the end of this month Scholastic is releasing a new set of Harry Potter books. These paperback versions will feature the art of Kazu Kibuishi (of Amulet graphic novel fame). The art itself has already been released for our devouring pleasure and they’re brilliant but I’m not sure I’m happy about it.

I have really mixed feelings about the matter. Kibuishi does beautiful artwork but, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, I’m a pretty sentimental creature so the Mary GrandPre covers will always be my Harry Potter covers. I remember waiting for the release of the cover images and in some ways they are the Harry Potter books for me. The thought of those illustrations becoming harder to come by (the original covers will only be available in hardcover, though, it will take a while for them to die off in paper, I imagine) makes my heart hurt a little.

On the other hand, I also collect different editions of the books so I’m kind of excited/exasperated that there is (yet) another set for me to get. Kibuishi does such a fantastic job of capturing the feeling of the scenes that he chose and I really hope his artwork can grab a different set of people than GrandPre’s (even if Harry probably doesn’t need the help pulling in an audience).

Anyway, this got me thinking of how publishers change cover designs. This often happens from hardcover to paperback, sometimes they just get reprints or anniversary editions, and, other times, the really bad times, they’ll change them in the middle of a series, leaving us with a miss-matched set of covers and a wounded soul.

Here are some of the wonderful, questionable, and minimal cover changes that have occurred in my world.

Holly Black’s Curse Workers got a redesign just before the third book came out. Even though we’d already seen the cover of the last one it was never printed. The new covers give a completely different feel. Admittedly, they took a little while to grow on me.

From this:

To this:

Stephanie Perkins' Anna and the French Kiss and it's companion novel Lola and the Boy Next Door were redone for Lola's paperback release. This means when the third novel comes out (tentatively spring 2014) the cover will match the new look of the first two. These also have a completely different look, but I can't lie, I really love them.

From this:

To this:

Sometimes cover changes happen from hardcover to paperback but aren't that major of changes. For example the softcover release of Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Boys has the addition of a sketch of the Raven Boys themselves in the background. This one keeps the same feel as the original and might even tie in the cover of the second better.

Hardcover: 

 

Paperback:

Other times a cover goes through a progression. Maureen Johnson's The Name of the Star had one cover for hardcover, and then it looked like we might get the UK cover and then was printed with a completely different one in paperback. I'm glad we didn't get the UK one and the third is probably the best of three (even if it doesn't do justice to the creepy factor of the book) and is the one the cover of the second in the series matches.

Progression:

The really weird times though, are when books get completely repackaged, title and all. I am never 100% sure why this happens. I know it has something to do with marketing but to change even the title of a book always seems a little extreme.

Like Robin Wasserman's Skinned series which came out and looked like this:

Then a few years later they came out The Cold Awakening trilogy and looked like this:

The new covers are pretty cool all lined up like that but...what? I'm not even sure what to do with the complete revamp of the series. I hope more people picked it up. It does look a little more modern?

Anyway, I could be at this all day long (Sarah Rees Brennan's Unspoken cover! It was so pretty, so unique, why did you have to change it?!).

Some of the cover changes are really well done, some I even really love. But no matter how well done they are there's always a little part of me that rebels against changing the face of something I really like...even if it's for the better.

I think part of it changes how I sell the book and what sort of audience I think will be willing to pick it up. Look at the Curse Workers covers, especially the first one, they're so different and that's going to change how I go about recommending it.

But no matter what the covers look like it's the same text inside the book and they're all really fantastic reads. You should come in and check them out.

And seriously, I have another set of Harry Potter books to buy...

-Amy

Meet Amy. She's Excited About Saturday.

Hullo dear Blogsmith readers!

This is Amy, yes, the same Amy who wrote a whole ONE post back in March when Cassandra Clare's Clockwork Princess came out (you all remember me, right?...of course you do!). I'm the newest writer for the Blogsmith and one of the Booksmith's children's booksellers.

Which brings me (sort of) to the fact that I am a huge fan of Young Adult and Middle Grade books. Young Adult is most of what I read but I’ve been recently putting an effort into reading more Middle Grade. I’m having a lot of fun with it, there are some really brilliant middle grade books out there.

Which now, actually, brings me to my real point, this coming Saturday, August 3^rd at 7 PM we have a really awesome panel set up. This panel consists of, no less than, seven Young Adult and Middle Grade authors who are all a part of the Lucky Thirteens.

What are the Lucky Thirteens you ask? They are a group of authors who all have books coming out in 2013! That’s right these authors are all fantastic and new additions to our literary world. When these authors make it big you can tell everyone that you saw them before it was cool.

But really, I’ve read all of them and the best thing about these books is that there is a little bit of everything.

We have a realistic Middle Grade about a fifth grader facing the trials growing up in Elisabeth Dahl’s Genie Wishes. Think Judy Blume.

Our second Middle Grade, Kit Grindstaff’s The Flame in the Mist, is an smart high fantasy about a girl destined to save her kingdom as life as she knew it unravels. A slightly younger Philip Pullman.

Thinking a bit older?
Our first YA is Rachele Alpine’s Canary. Canary explores what happens when a girl is assaulted but speaking out will ruin everything for not just her but her family. If you’re a fan of Laurie Halse Anderson this is your book.

Erin Bowman’s Taken follows the seventeen year old Gray and his search to find out the truth of The Heist, a ritual where all of the town’s men disappear when they turn 18. Everything about this one is The Giver meets Mockingjay.

Justina Ireland’s Vengeance Bound takes the lesser explored Furies from Greek mythology and makes our narrator their third member. She travels the country and expends justice against wrong doing men while hunting down her own revenge. This one is definitely for fans of Kendare Blake and her Anna Dressed in Blood.

Next is Alex Lidell’s high fantasy The Cadet of Tildor. Renee trains to be a member of the elite Servants but struggles with, not only being the only fighting girl, but with learning that the law might not always be right. A must read for fans of Tamora Pierce.

Then there’s Mindy Raf’s The Symptoms of My Insanity. A look at fifteen year old Izzy’s crash course in high school and learning to stop and take a look around. This one is part Louise Rennison’s Georgia Nicholson and part John Green.

See?! There really is something for just about anyone who reads Young Adult or Middle Grade!

I know we don’t usually post about events in depth like this but there are a lot of authors at this one. Also, I’m really excited about it (if you couldn’t tell) and I’ve talked to a couple of the authors in brief social media interactions and they’re excited about the event and there’s just something really cool about being with a group of people so excited to be doing what they’re doing and listening to them talk about it.

I might be biased but YA/MG authors always have the best banter.

So, everyone should swing by and check this out Saturday August 3^rd at Seven. You can sit back, relax, laugh a little, and maybe even learn a bit about writing.

It’s pretty much a win-win.

-Amy

P.S. I don’t think all of my blog posts will be like this…