Blog

Indie Spotlight: Blue Willow Bookshop, Houston TX

By on May 31, 2017   /   Book Lists, For Kids, For Librarians, For Parents, For Writers, Indie Spotlight  

Sue Cowing for Mixed-Up Files:  What an interesting idea:  a bookstore devoted half to kid’s books and half to adult! We are talking today with Valerie Koehler, Owner of Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston.

MUF: I assume your shop gets its name from Blue Willow, the award-winning novel by Doris Gates?  Sounds like you’ve had children’s books  in mind from the beginning.
Valerie: I was not aware of the lovely book by Doris Gates when I named the shop.  But just like in her novel, the shop is named after Blue Willow china. When I bought the shop, I wanted to offer books for the entire family. so now it’s half and half.  Our top two selling categories are adult fiction and children’s picture books.

school visit

MUF:You’ve been open twenty years now and you survived the downturn several years ago when many bookstores closed.  What has contributed to your success?  What kind of atmosphere do you try to create for customers at Blue Willow Books?
Valerie: We never saw the downturn as we plowed ahead with new ideas, new partnerships, and lots of events.  I feel our success is due to our open minds to new opportunities.  We want everyone to feel welcome and we want to continue to spread our love of books through the city.  We venture far beyond our walls with school visits and our three yearly festivals.

MUF:Tell us more about your monthly book club, “Another Shade of Blue” for middle-grade girls.  What have been some of their favorite books, and what will they be reading in June?  
Valerie:It’s been a slow start to this club and we are retooling it as I write this.  It’s so hard to get critical mass when the kids are overbooked.  They loved The Green Glass House By Kate Milford. In June, they are reading Beyond The Bright Sea by Lauren Wolk.

MUF: How do you choose which books to carry in your shop?
Valerie: I read advance copies, I look at reviews, I look at trends and past sales.  It’s an art and a science (and a crap shoot!).

MUF: How do you help kids find their next best book? As middle-grade authors, we’d love to know what titles, old or new, fiction or nonfiction, you find yourself recommending most often these days to readers between eight and twelve?
Valerie We tend to recommend stand-alone novels as the kids already know the series.  All of us like different books!  This past year, we all loved PAX by Sara Pennypacker.  But each kid deserves to be different so we help them one at a time.

Tweens Read Festival

Gene Luen Yang & Fan at Tweens Read Festival

MUF: Do you have any events coming up that would be of special interest to middle-graders?
Valerie: We are retooling the bookclub so stay tuned.  Also, put October 21st on the calendar for our 8th annual Tweens Read Festival.  The authors will be announced very soon. Last year we hosted over 3000 kids.
MUF: If a family from out of town visited your shop, would there be family-friendly places in the neighborhood where they could get a snack or meal after shopping?  And if they could stay longer, are there some unique sites and activities in the area they shouldn’t miss?
Valerie: We have a great patisserie in our center which is kid friendly.  Just down the street is Hungry’s which has food for the whole family.  For longer visits I like to recommend visiting www.houstonfamilymagazine.com for great Houston ideas.

Thanks, Valerie, for talking with us about Blue Willow Books, and congratulations on your continuing success!  Readers, have any of you had the pleasure of visiting this shop?  Putting it on your list?

 

Back to Top
Back to Top

Interview & Giveaway – Pixie Piper author Annabelle Fisher

By on May 30, 2017   /   Author Interviews, Giveaways, MUF Contributor Books  

Book jacket for Pixie Piper and the Matter of the BatterI’m so excited to chat with Mixed-up Files’ own Annabelle Fisher and celebrate the release of her newest middle grade, Pixie Piper and the Matter of the Batter. This is the sequel to her 2016 release, The Secret Destiny of Pixie Piper. Read all the way to the end for a chance to win a copy of this fun, Mother Goose-inspired two-book set.

JA: How long did it take you to write Book Two?

AF: I spent over two years writing and revising The Secret Destiny of Pixie Piper before it ever went to my editor, Virginia Duncan at Greenwillow. But I’d only written a couple of paragraphs of description for Pixie Piper and the Matter of the Batter. However, Virginia gave me a contract for two books and the second book was scheduled to be published one year after the first! That meant I had to work on all the different stages of getting the first book ready—revising, responding to copyediting, proofreading, checking chapter illustrations, etc.—while writing and revising the second book. Sometimes I felt like Taz, the whirling, maniacal Looney Tunes character. But I turned in the sequel on May 16th, 2016 and it releases today. Phew!

JA: How was it different than writing the first book?

AF: When I finish a book I always have trouble letting my protagonist go, so I was excited to be able to follow Pixie into her next adventure! But as a writer I don’t outline; I like to see where the story takes me. Except that in a sequel, you have many of the same characters and you’ve already started them on a journey. The trick was to stay open to the possibilities of plot while keeping the promises of Pixie’s magical mission.

JA: Did any feedback you received on the first book impact your writing in the sequel?

AF: Yes! The kids I spoke to in classes and libraries loved the funny parts of Pixie Piper best. So I worked hard to make sure the sequel had plenty of humor too.

In Pixie Piper and the Matter of the Batter, I gave Pixie’s Goose cousins and Aunts humorous traits. For example, the head Aunt is ancient and wears a Mother Goose hat the size of a traffic cone. She never takes it off. She’s snarky, but she loves her goose, La Blanca, who greets Pixie by biting her backside. There are also humorous baking accidents—one of which produces flying biscuits. And as in the first book, lots of humorous rhymes. I won’t give away anymore specifics, but I do use some ‘can’t-miss humor tools’ such as hyperbole, metaphors and similes, and villains that are a mix of scary and absurdly silly.

JA: Was it harder to write the sequel?

AF: Well, I thought it would be easier!

The arc over the two books was always clear to me: How would Pixie Piper change from a girl resisting her Mother Goose heritage (so that she can be ‘normal’) to one who yearns to join her magical Goose family and take up their mission? But of course an arc isn’t a plot. The arc is the overarching structure and the story’s goal. The plot is the motor that keeps it running. For plot, you need to know what is at stake for your protagonist.

The first book takes place on the estate where Pixie lives. (She’s the caretaker’s daughter). Once she is enticed by a Goose Lady Aunt to become a Goose Girl apprentice, she must prove herself ‘braver than brave’ and ‘truer than true’. Pixie helps hatch a magical gosling that she must protect from Raveneece Greed, an old enemy of the Goose Ladies. She must also protect her rhyming power, which Raveneece is trying to steal. So the first book is about proving herself worthy to become a part of Mother Goose’s “legacy.”

The second book takes place at Chuckling Goose Farm, where the Goose Ladies and their apprentices use their rhyming powers to bake magical birthday cakes that make wishes come true. Once again, I needed to figure out what was at stake. After a rocky start, I went back to the idea of family and how the generations work together to preserve Mother Goose’s legacy. They are passionate about the rule that their magical cakes be distributed randomly, so that all people have a chance to get their wish. The ancient Goose Lady Aunt who heads the family is a direct descendant of Mother Goose and she seems to hate Pixie right from the start. The bond they finally form is hard won. But after the two begin to love each other, their old enemy returns. Once again, Pixie must be braver than brave to save her great-great-great grandmother and the legacy of Mother Goose.

Thanks for joining us, Annabelle. Readers, please comment below for a chance to win a set of Pixie Piper books!

Back to Top