Elana K. Arnold was a National Book Award finalist for her novel, What Girls Are Made Of. She is the author of numerous novels for Middle Grade and Young Adult readers, including A Boy Called Bat and Infandous. Her latest novel is Damsel, which may best be described as a fantasy novel for the #MeToo era. …
I think it’s fairly safe to say that we all have several reading personalities, depending on mood and circumstance. Sometimes, you might be in the mood for the literary equivalent of a summer blockbuster, with explosions and car chases and clearly defined bad guys. Other times you might want a stately costume drama or something …
I am going to start a publishing company and it is going to be called “Simultaneous,” and it is going to publish every book in a hardcover edition for libraries and collectors and another edition in paperback or board book or whatever its most natural fit is. So, all those nine bajillion-volume mystery series? A …
This week, booksellers from around the country with a specific interest in children’s books gathered in New Orleans for the American Booksellers Association’s annual Children’s Institute, an annual educational conference that was hosted last year in Portland. I attended in my role as children’s book buyer for Queen Anne Book Company in Seattle, but I …
This wasn’t what I intended to write. I had planned a whole thing about the books I love which appeal to my inner 10- to 14-year-old boy. But, then I started noticing something on my social media feeds: Authors, some of whom had close ties to the independent bookselling community, were almost exclusively linking to …
Like Vanessa by Tami Charles All I can say is thank goodness the ’80s are back in fashion, because this gem of a book is best read sitting in front of a TV tray in a recliner. Inspired by Vanessa Williams’ 1983 Miss America win, a headstrong and pushy teacher, and a supportive and scheming …
It all started with Sara Crewe. Not even book (A Little Princess) Sara Crewe, but Shirley Temple-movie Sara Crewe in “The Little Princess” (1939). That was when I first fell in love with the idea of boarding school, even if I may not have thought of it in that way at the time. That’s not …
I met him once, briefly. It was back when I was working at the airport. I was up on a ladder, shelving in the Mystery section, and a gentleman came up to browse. We got to talking about authors we liked and we had a lot of them in common. I did as any good …
I enjoyed the combination of sci fi, historical fiction, and literary exploration. I was dropped into 1815 and saw it through the eyes of two researchers from the future who love Jane Austen’s work. They’ve been sent to find and bring back the completed manuscript of “The Watsons” because only part of it has made …
It happens at least once a week. A well-meaning adult will come to the store looking for a gift for a kid– sometimes with the kid in tow, sometimes not. The adult will be wandering lost, clueless, picking up and dismissing book after book after book. If they’ve come in with a kid, the kid …
