Book Expo

Each year, at the very end of May, flocks of booksellers fly toward a common point on their horizons to attend Book Expo America. As the annual gathering of independent bookstores around the country, BEA brings together book publishers, toy manufacturers, buyers and owners of retail stores like ours, and authors who have become celebrities for bookworms like us. This year, in New York City, both store manager Jeremy Montange and I found ourselves pacing miles of exhibitions, attending workshops on retail management, picking up new ideas from other stores, and thinking about what we wanted to improve about the store. A few weeks later, I find myself still going through the tall pile of catalogs I collected there, thinking about what can be actually put into action and what goes on the wish list for later on.

New Series for Kids
The series craze seems to be continuing, and the problem is weeding out the just okay from the substantial. Two things caught our eyes: first, the American Girls series has become more of a toy and clothing based enterprise. Not surprising since Pleasant Company was bought by Mattel. When it first started in 1986, I thought that the books were the best thing about the whole line; now, while we still stock the books, we are looking for other girl-friendly series to fill the gap. One series in particular is the Beacon Hill Girls, and they not only have great stories and interesting characters, their other non-book items are fewer and more centered on socializing and reading. They will be in the store within weeks. We are interested in your suggestions as well.We are also checking out other series books to see which of the many offerings is worthy of your interest.

Webkinz
At this point, having placed an order for Webkinz in April, we have been told that we are on hold because demand exceeds manufacturing capacity. This is not a situation that we have any control over, and so we will keep you posted.

Sounds and Sights on Thursday Nights
Chelsea's downtown music fest, is on again for the next ten weeks, through August 30. Baseball lovers should be interested in our next author signing on July 12. Author Tom Stanton will be in the store to sign his new book Ty and the Babe, a history of the friendship between Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth. Stanton feels that Cobb should get his image, as created by many baseball historians, upgraded for reasons that the new book explains. Also at Cranesbill you can take a horse and buggy ride through Chelsea's village area with local historian George Till.

News on Harry Potter Night
Yes, both the library and the bookstore are having HP and the Deathly Hallows parties, and ours will be at the same time, with some refreshments, some characters from the series, a costume contest, and of course, the distribution of the novels starting at 12:01 on July 21, in other words, at midnight. Come dressed for the fun and we will have the best time putting the much-loved series to bed. It is deathless prose-- immortality is guaranteed, so let's not have any Lemony Snicket antics about the end.

Jan's Current Reads
Present reading includes Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen, a wonderful fiction that many others have enjoyed--I'm just behind, as usual. I'm also reading Seasons of the Emma Lee, written by Michael Lindley, who will be in Chelsea on July 28 to speak and sign. I've been perusing The Four-Day Win by Martha Beck, a really wonderful columnist for Oprah (the magazine) who says if you can stop eating junk for four days, you can make your diet stick. Tune in next week for more details.