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Indie Spotlight: The Charming Theodore’s Books of Oyster Bay, NY

Theodore's Books

 

Theodore's Books

 

 

 

Theodore’s Books of Oyster Bay, NY

Theodore’s Books of Oyster Bay, NY, my home away from home, is nestled in the historic, waterfront hamlet on the North Shore of Long Island. It’s the pride and joy of owner Steve Israel, book lover and former congressman who envisioned a space that inspired learning and the exchange of ideas. Theodore’s is a world away from the heated environment that politics can brew.

 

I never wondered why the name Theodore’s Books? Sure, Oyster Bay, NY, is where beloved former president Theodore Roosevelt once lived, and there are sculptures and imagery dedicated to the popular figure all over the Gold Coast town, but that’s not the only connection I made between the Indie establishment and one of my favorite presidents. Theodore Roosevelt was a well-known fanatic of adventure. Some would say he had an almost child-like drive for exploration. He loved the outdoors, physical activities, and thrived in dare-devil environments that most would shy away from. What better place to start an expedition into exciting worlds unknown than between the covers of a book? 

Theodore Roosevelt’s youthful sense of curiosity percolates on the shelves of this cozy bookstore. Afterleaving the polarized environment of politics behind, Steve Israel opened the doors to Theodore’s, and he wanted one message to be very clear: at Theodore’s you’ll find a refuge.

Children, like adults, deserve to escape what feels like an omni-present political battle going on in the world. At 1,528 square feet and nearly 10,000 titles, Theodore’s stocks their shelves with, “books from the left, the right, the middle or nowhere in particular. Some political books and (mostly) non-political books.” And they proudly display a sign that reads: No jerks allowed


Steve Israel

 

I visited with the store’s incredibly kind staff, Dan, Chloe, and Steve Israel himself, to get their take on what their youngest clientele has been leaning into to find adventures and feed their inner explorers.

Here’s what they had to say:

 

Is reading an abandoned pastime?

Ines: People are always claiming that books and reading in general are things of the past. That children especially aren’t interested in reading anymore. Steve, what’s your response to that?

 

Steve: I’ve noticed the decline in a desire for reading and it saddens me. Social media has a grip on society, and with children especially. The algorithms are incredibly savvy and know just how to keep our children’s attention glued to the screen. But there’s nothing quite like sitting with a book and immersing yourself in a world that fills your mind. I want children to experience the joy that comes with reading, which is why I dedicated a table to them in the children’s books section of the store. I want them to be able to grab a book, take a seat, and pause from everything else for a moment so that they can experience the solace that is reading.

What is it about Theodore’s?

Ines: It’s easy for me to list off the things that draw me to Theodore’s—which thankfully is only a twenty-minute drive from my house—the idyllic location, frequent street festivals, family friendly area, etc. But what would you say is a key feature that would be especially inviting for the middle-grade age crowd?

 

Dan: I think our best feature for middle grade readers is our children’s area. The children’s section that includes fiction and non-fiction books, games, puzzles, and stuffed animals, covers an entire wall and two bookcases. I think we carry more kids’ books than presidential biographies—despite the store’s namesake being a popular U.S. President. I’m particularly proud of the amount of non-fiction titles we carry for kids. There are plenty of non-fiction stories that are as adventurous and interesting as fiction.

Best-sellers of the MG Kind

Ines: What books seem to be consistent fan favorites among the middle grade shoppers of Theodore’s? 

 

Dan: I’ve sold a lot of A to Z Mysteries, I Survived, and Big Nate. We also keep being reminded of our love for Frog and Toad even as adults. In fact, we spend a lot of time reminiscing over childhood favorites; I hand sell the titles The Westing Game and Holes often!  

Chloe is our children’s books specialist, keeping that section of our store stocked with the best. 

 

Chloe: I’m proud of our children’s corner of the store. It’s our largest collection, carrying everything from board books to young adult. I keep my eye out for both new releases and classics for younger readers. We maintain our New Releases: Kids, Middle Grade, and YA list up to date with titles we’re all excited about.

The Happenings at Theodore’s for the MG Crowd

Ines: In March of this year, a group of Girl Scouts was selling cookies in the store, which is such a great way to give those hard working little troops a warm, indoor, and cozy place to sell their goods. Does Theodore’s offer other events or opportunities for their middle grade patrons? 

 

Dan: Yes! We recently held a personalized shopping experience for graphic novels and comics. Several young readers came in and shared what their favorites were, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that they had read through most of the exhaustive list I curated for that event. Including one child that had already read Jeff Smith’s Bone, a personal childhood favorite. 

Theodore’s has held bookmark design contests and other activities to connect with kids. We also love it when groups of children come in after school and exchange book recommendations! Sometimes spending half an hour lounging in the chairs up front, discussing what books they’ll trade when finished.  

I think we’ll eventually have live music in the store, and we’ll continue to offer more specialized shopping hours. Those types of events are always free, and all are welcome to browse and ask booksellers questions. I’d love it if Theodore’s became a hangout for kids to read and chat.

bookstore bookseller posing

((If you enjoyed this read, you should check out this article Children’s Bookstores Survive!))

 

I love to visit indie bookstores during my travels. If you do too and ever find yourself on Long Island, make sure that Oyster Bay is one of your stops. I go there every chance I get. You can grab a cup of Joe at Southdown Coffee, pop into Theodore’s Books for a warm bookish welcome, and later stroll the waterfront streets. Don’t forget to pay Sagamore Hill a visit too! 

Show your love to Theodore’s Books: 

Order any of your favorite books from Theodore’s online at https://www.theodoresbooks.com/browse/book 

Follow Theodore’s Books: 

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/theodoresbooks/ 

Twitter – https://twitter.com/theodoresbooks 

TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@theodoresbooks  

Welcome to Monsterville – Lauran Shovan Interview

Cover Art Welcome to mosterville

Welcome to Monsterville

I’m so excited that we at MUF got an early peek at Laura Shovan’s new poetry collection called Welcome to Monsterville. And we got to talk to her about it – even better!

About Welcome to Monsterville

Where the residents are anything but ordinary. The monsters here are “friendly! Thoughtful! Shy and scary,” much like their human neighbors. Readers will meet a monster house who plays hopscotch and makes the sidewalks quake, laugh at a bubblegum-headed monster’s epic tantrum, and cry with a monster called Sadness.

Cover Art Welcome to mosterville

Interview with Laura Shovan

MUF: Hi Laura! Welcome back to From the Mixed-Up Files … we’re so glad you’re here and excited to talk about your newest book, a collection of poems called Welcome to Monsterville. What a great title and a wonderful book! I’m still smiling as I think about lines like “Bubblegum head fell out of bed…” What prompted this collection and your partnership with illustrator Michael Rothenberg?

LS: This collection began with a simple gift between friends. I went to visit Michael and his wife Terri in January of 2020. Michael, a poet, was still reeling from the death of his son the year before. Unable to write through his grief, he turned to art therapy. He showed me some of those illustrations, which tended to be abstract.

When I got home, there was a surprise waiting for me. Michael had painted a blue creature with red fish lips, a crown, and six pink feet. I knew my friend was feeling low, so I wrote a poem that began, “A monster bought the house next door.” I recorded the poem and sent it to Michael, hoping it would cheer him up. I should have known the exchange would be the start of something. Michael was a force. He loved collaborating with musicians, artists, and poets on creative projects but also on social justice work.

monster illustration from Monsterville

Introversion

MUF: Another line that really resonates with me is the opening to the poem “Costavablink,” where you say

High on a mountain

called Costavablink

there lives a shy monster

who knows how to shrink

What are you hoping readers will take from this poem in particular?

LS: I hope this poem honors introversion. Susan Cain’s book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking opened my eyes to how much I – an introvert! – had absorbed American culture’s preference for extroversion. When I was growing up, my father was an extreme extrovert. I remember that feeling of wanting to shrink and get away from all of the talking and activity. I view the Monster of Costavablink is a poet. She uses quiet as an opportunity to think and appreciate the natural world.

MUF: (I love Susan Cain’s book — it has taught me so much about the introverts in my life. Invaluable!) Each poem has a child interacting with different monsters. Why use monsters as the common thread?

Monsters Represent Big Emotions

LS: There would be no book without the monsters. Our process was that Michael would create a sketch first. He said, “I found that drawing gave me oxygen, breath, allowed me out of myself to express emotions without narrative, without direction. It was colors and shapes, emotions. I didn’t have to interpret what I was saying … As we proceeded Laura saw something in them, and wrote poetry that motivated me to do more. I remember telling her that I was stunned by her imagination as she gave the creatures a voice and her reply that it was my imagination that was inspiring.”

We were both coping with a great deal of loss and anxiety while working on this collaboration. The Covid-19 lockdown happened about five weeks into the project. Eventually, we recognized a theme, that the monsters represent big emotions and what it’s like to welcome them.

MUF: Is there a poem in particular you wrote for yourself?

LS: That poem is “Green Cave.” I can’t tell you why Michael’s colorful bird monster reminded me of the forsythia bush in my parents’ back yard, but that’s the magic of the monsters. The forsythia bush is where I used to hide as a kid when I was overwhelmed by emotions. I love the idea that a magical bird might come along and show an upset child how to self-soothe.

illustration of monster from Monsterville

Collaborative Creations

MUF: Your imagery is just lovely … purple-blue moons and tears that crawl on fuzzy legs … when you’re crafting a poem, what is your creative process? Any craft tips for those of us aspiring to such stunning imagery?

LS: Those details are both Michael’s inventions, my poems simply pick up on his images and build little stories and characters around them. I love ekphrastic poems, which are responses to specific works of art. Because Michael’s monsters are so unexpected and rich with detail, my process for this book was to trust whatever strange idea popped into my mind and see where it led me. For example, Bubblegum Head’s toothy expression inspired me to write about his major tantrum. When the invented words in that poem came, I invited them in without judging them or saying, “That’s too silly.”

There were times when it was challenging to bring all of the elements in one of Michael’s illustrations together. The carrot-like monster in “Underground,” who is holding up flowers underneath a purple moon, took many drafts to get right. It was the emotion of the picture that eventually unlocked the poem for me. I began to ask myself how it would feel to be a Root Monster who “lives without sunshine or air.” On one level, it’s a silly story, but on another, this is a poem about coping with depression.

MUF: Can you talk a little bit about art therapy?

LS: I only know what little Michael shared with me, but I hope readers will check out the introduction to Welcome to Monsterville. It was written by Dr. Mercedes Ballbé ter Maat, who is a past president of the American Art Therapy Association.

MUF: Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

LS: I’d love to see the monsters that your readers come up with. Here is my suggestion: Doodle, draw, or paint a monster first. Next, ask yourself, “How is Monster feeling?” Once you’ve identified the emotion, give a poem a try!

MUF: Thanks so much for giving me a chance to read your book and chat with you, Laura. It’s been a pleasure!

LS: Thank you, Heather. It means so much to me that you enjoyed the book!

 

About Author Laura Shovan

Smiling brown haired woman author Laura Shovan

 

Laura Shovan is a novelist, educator, and Pushcart Prize-nominated poet. Her work appears in journals and anthologies for children and adults. Laura’s award-winning middle grade novels include The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson ElementaryTakedown, and the Sydney Taylor Notable A Place at the Table, written with Saadia Faruqi. Laura is a longtime poet-in-the-schools for the Maryland State Arts Council’s Artist-in-Education program. She teaches for Vermont College of Fine Arts’ MFA program in writing for children and young adults. Her latest book is Welcome to Monsterville

Stay in touch with Laura via her website and Instagram

About Illustrator Michael Rothenberg

Illustrator Michael Rothenberg white man in fedora hat and beard

Michael Rothenberg was a poet, editor, artist, and publisher of the online literary magazine BigBridge.org, co-founder of 100 Thousand Poets for Change (www.100tpc.org), The “Read A Poem To A Child” Initiative, and co-founder of Poets In Need, a non-profit 501(c), assisting poets in crisis. Before his death in 2022, he published over 20 books of poetry, most recently The Pillars (Quaranzine Press) and Drawing the Shade (Dos Madres Press). His editorial work included several volumes in the Penguin Poets series: Overtime by Philip Whalen, As Ever by Joanne Kyger, David’s Copy by David Meltzer, and Way More West by Ed Dorn. He was also editor of The Collected Poems of Philip Whalen published by Wesleyan University Press. He served as Florida State University Library’s Poet in Residence. His book of poetry, In Memory of A Banyan Tree, Poems of the Outside World, 1985-2020, (Lost Horse Press) was published in 2022. Welcome to Monsterville is his first book for children.

 

STEM Tuesday– Architecture– Interview with Nancy Castaldo!

Welcome to STEM Tuesday: Author Interview, a repeating feature for the last Tuesday of every month. Go Science-Tech-Engineering-Math!

Today, I’m delighted to interview a founding member of STEM Tuesday, Nancy Castaldo!

Nancy’s most recent book is an exploration of a very cool topic – green buildings! And not painted green. No, these buildings are growing, thriving, and . . .  breathing!

BUILDINGS THAT BREATHE: GREENING THE WORLD’S CITIES takes young readers on a journey around the world to discover ecological, sustainable architecture practices such as incorporating trees and other forms of native vegetation into buildings.

Why design buildings that breathe? Because it’s healthier – for humans, wildlife, and the planet. And, these buildings are beautiful!

Learn more about Nancy’s research and writing process:

cover Buildings That Breathe

Andi Diehn: What a great title – what sparked the idea for this book?

Nancy Castaldo: As an Italian-American, I have Italian news stories on my radar. I was excited when I came across the story of Bosco Verticale in Milan. In addition, I studied architecture in graduate school after all my earlier science studies. This project dovetailed with both of those interests. I wasn’t sure what direction the book would take until I attended the United Nations Forum in Urban Forestry in Mantua, Italy in 2018. The book formed out of that participation. I had the opportunity to meet with so many global leaders in urban greening.

AD: Boeri refers to a “new Renaissance” when talking about the future of cities. What does he mean by this?

NC: The Italian Renaissance was a period of recovery from disasters that occurred in the 14th century and a period of tremendous innovation. Milan was home to Leonardo da Vinci, a Renaissance master of innovation. Boeri, the architect for Bosco Verticale, is calling for the opportunity for tremendous innovation in the world’s cities today. His design and his collaborations in Milan and elsewhere are at the forefront of that innovation.

AD: The story of Seneca Village was fascinating – why is it important to remember the people who lived there before the land became Central Park?

NC: Seneca Village and the dissolution of it is important to everyone everywhere. It is an historical example of social injustice that went on and that still occurs in gentrification projects. The residents of Seneca Village that were displaced had their lives disrupted just as many still do today.

green skyscraperAD: Boeri’s vision of a building that incorporates trees and essentially becomes one great tree that “incidentally houses humans” is a real shift from our traditional way of thinking of architecture as serving humans—these buildings serve the land. Why do you think that shift is happening now?

NC: Cities need to be made more livable for residents and healthier for our planet. Urban greening projects do both. The shift is important to combat human-caused climate change that damages our planet and individual health. Cities produce three-quarters of carbon dioxide emissions along with many other pollutants. As city populations increase, so do those emissions. We can do better. Urban greening is one big tool in our toolbox.

AD: You write about Boeri’s team members and their backgrounds, including Laura Gatti and Emanuela Borio. Is it important to have many voices contributing to the plans? Why?page from Buildings That Breathe

NC: Everyone has their own specialties in creating such extraordinary, innovative designs. All contribute to the project’s success. I’m hoping that young readers, of all genders, will find inspiration from these individuals in STEM careers.

AD: I had no idea that growing trees and bushes on buildings was so complicated! What are some of the things the designers have to consider?

NC: The book describes how the team had to deal with issues of wind and weight on the structure and its trees. When groundbreaking projects like Bosco Verticale are constructed, lessons can be learned for all buildings going forward.

AD: In March, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change announced that we’d be crossing a critical global warming threshold in the 2030s if we didn’t make major changes—how do books like yours help younger generations understand the climate situation?

NC: I hope that Buildings That Breathe can not only inform my readers but inspire them to think about other creative solutions to our global climate crisis. I’ve included ways readers can also get involved in their own communities throughout the book and in the backmatter.

AD: I love the idea of making our living spaces more welcoming to wildlife and birds. How do we balance the benefits of living near and among animals with the possible risks?

NC: Coming to the realization that humans and wildlife are all sharing the same spaces on the planet is the first step. Respecting those creatures that inhabit our world comes next. Learning how to live with wildlife can be a fulfilling and a healthy way to enhance our lives. Do your homework. Think of things like adding bird feeders and native plants to yards and terraces.

AD: I like how you discuss modern innovations alongside ancient technology like sod roofs. What can we learn from looking at old ways of doing things?

page from Buildings that Breathe

NC: If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it. That old adage is often true. A look back at traditional solutions might inspire how we develop new ideas, like green roofs.

AD: I love the story about people celebrating rooftop gardens and posting their pictures to social media. Why is this kind of connection an important part of combatting climate change?

NC: Good news should be spread, don’t you think? It’s one of the best uses of social media. Let’s hope it will inspire action and change.

AD: You include a discussion of pros and cons in most chapters – why is it important to look at innovations from all different sides?

NC: All voices need to be heard. In that way, solutions can be addressed. Everyone’s voice matters. And we all know that “there is no free lunch.” Solutions are not always 100% risk free. We should acknowledge that and attempt to make the best decisions going forward to mitigate any problems.page from Buildings That Breathe

AD: I like that you discuss green architecture happening in lower-income areas, and the problem of eco-gentrification. How are innovators addressing the need to reach all populations, not just the wealthy? How might they work with existing neighbors to ensure no one is forced out of their home for the sake of green building?

NC: This is a huge topic, but one that needs to be addressed. I included it because all stakeholders in urban projects need to be considered. Sadly, not all city neighborhoods have the same amount of parks and greenery. More parks are needed to even this out and create healthy places for all city residents. In addition, residents who suffer from eco-gentrification projects need to have their voices heard and their properties considered. Suggestions for how readers can attend public forums and ways to turn your community green are included in Buildings That Breathe.

 

 

Nancy Castaldo has written award-winning books about our planet for over 20 years from New York’s Hudson Valley. Her love of reading and writing outdoors began in her childhood, when she wasn’t searching for frogs, turtles, and salamanders, and climbing trees. Her curiosity led her to study science. As an environmental educator, Nancy combined all of those interests. She still enjoys spending her time exploring in the wild as she did while researching over two dozen books and many articles.

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Andi Diehn grew up near the ocean chatting with horseshoe crabs and now lives in the mountains surrounded by dogs, cats, lizards, chickens, ducks, moose, deer, and bobcats, some of which help themselves to whatever she manages to grow in the garden. You are most likely to find her reading a book, talking about books, writing a book, or discussing politics with her sons. She has 18 children’s books published or forthcoming.