Posts Tagged independent bookstores

Indie Spotlight: Quail Ridge Books & Music, Raleigh NC

By on October 31, 2014   /   Book Lists, Indie Spotlight  

Quail Ridge logoQuail Ridge Books & Music of Raleigh, North Carolina, now in its 30th year, has received, among other awards, the Publishers’ Weekly Bookseller of the Year Award and the Pannell Award for Excellence in Children’s Bookselling. We’re speaking today with Carol Moyer, Children’s Department Manager at Quail Ridge(www.quailridgebooks.com)Quail Ridge front

MUF: Please spell out for our readers what being an independent shop allows you to do at Quail Ridge Books?
Carol: Being independent means that we hand-select the inventory in the store, an inventory of the best books that is broad and diverse. We can decide what to display, how and where to display it. We decide which titles to promote in newsletters and other advertising. We decide which authors to invite for a program.

MUF: Customer reviews praise Quail Ridge Books as a place where booksellers lead you to the perfect books and can make you a book-source hero in a child’s eyes.   How do you do that?
Carol: The children’s staff stays up to date with children’s books and can recommend titles for all ages. We get to know our customers and their interests, and we help them find books for each occasion. Knowing books and knowing customers is the key.

Quail Ridge Book CakeMUF: I notice your shop extends this to personal shopping service online. How do you choose the books you carry in your shop?
Carol: We order inventory after reviewing pre-publication copies and other materials from publishers. We read reviews all the time and look for more books by our favorite authors.

MUF: Many independent bookstores combine books with or cards and gifts, but not so many with music. Tell us how combination of books and music works with your community of customers.
Carol: Our former owner added a classical music CD department to enhance the bookstore. Great music and great books make a winning combination.

Quail Ridge Jacqueline Woodson

Jacqueline Woodson

MUF: So many events every month at your store, some with signing line tickets!   What’s coming up that might especially interest middle-graders?Quail Ridge Brown Girl DreamingQuail Ridge Revolution
Carol: This month we’ve had Tommy Greenwald who writes the Charlie Joe Jackson series and Jacqueline Woodson with her brilliant new memoir Brown Girl Dreaming. Coming up Nov 5 is Deborah Wiles with her fascinating novel of the 60’s, Revolution.

MUF: You have some fun-sounding book clubs for our age group— First in Series and Middle School Girls Book Club. What have they been reading?
Quail Ridge Charly Joe JacksonCarol: First in the Series Book Club have been reading Tommy Greenwald’s book Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to Making Money Deborah Wiles’s first book of the 60’s series, Countdown. The club meets before the author event and then stays to meet the author and hear the program.Quail Ridge Countdown
Middle School Girls Book Club read Brown Girl Dreaming and stayed for the program.

MUF: As middle-grade authors, we have to ask: what are some titles new and old, fiction and non-fiction, that you are especially recommending to middle-grade readers at the moment?  Also tell us about Wake County’s Battle of the Books.
Carol: North Carolina School Library Media Association selects titles for the Battle of the Books list each year. Quail Ridge crowdThis is a middle school reading incentive program that has been very successful over the years. The list includes are range of reading levels and interests, but all of the books have been well reviewed and are on recommended lists.   We are certainly recommending books by authors coming to the store, and then we all have personal favorites.

Quail Ridge-SkinkQuail Ridge BrotherbandQuail Ridge Gooseberry ParkWe like Skink No Surrender by Carl Hiaasen, Gooseberry Park by Cynthia Rylant, Wonder by R. J. Palacio, Paperboy by Vince Vawter, World According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney, Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart, Brotherband Chronicles by Flanagan, Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage, and the list goes on and on and on!Quail Ridge World according to Humphrey

MUF: And our readers’ to-read lists just got a little longer!
Carol, if a family visited Quail Ridge Books from out of town, would there be some place nearby where they could get a family-friendly snack or meal after shopping? And if they could stay awhile, are there other special family activities or sites in the area they might enjoy?
Carol: We are located in a shopping center with Whole Foods and a local restaurant, Tripps. Families are welcome at both places. We are between the North Carolina Museum of Art and downtown Raleigh where there are plenty of places to visit.Quail Ridge logo #2

MUF: Thanks so much, Carol, for telling us about Quail Ridge and recommending some good middle-grade titles. Readers, doesn’t this sound like a great shop to visit?

Sue Cowing is the author of the puppet-and-boy novel You Will Call Me Drog (Carolrhoda Books 2011, Usborne UK 2012, HarperCollins UK 2014)

Back to Top

Indie Spotlight: Bear Pond Books, Montpelier VT

By on July 30, 2014   /   Author Interviews, Book Lists, Indie Spotlight  

Bear Pond #4Sue Cowing for Mixed-up Files:  If only every state had a lively book shop on the main street of it’s capital city!  Today it’s a pleasure to be chatting with Jane Knight of Bear Pond Books (www.bearpondbooks.com ), which has been called “one of the great independent book stores on earth.”

Bear Pond #6MUF: What do you hope people will experience when they walk into Bear Pond  Books and browse?
Jane: Nirvana!

MUF:What keeps you going?
Jane: Our passion for books and our loyal customers.

MUF: How do you choose the books you carry in your shop?
Jane: We use a very magical blend of intuition, passion, rep. and book world reviews, word on the street and even a little wild guessing.Bear Pond ShipwreckBear Pond Glass sentence

MUF: What favorite titles—old and new, fiction and nonfiction—are you recommending to middle graders right now?Bear Pond Return of Zita
Jane: So difficult to narrow them down to a manageable list! But here goes: Bear Pond Steve JenkinsFiction: The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly, Okay For Now by Gary D. Schmidt, anything by Linda Urban, The Bartimeaus Trilogy by Johnathan Stroud, the Bone series by Jeff Smith, Clementine by Sara Pennypacker, Nation by Terry Pratchett, the Guys read series… please stop me now!!!! Bear Pond BartemausFor Non-fiction: Bomb: The Race to Build and Steal the World’s MostDangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin, Shipwreck at the Bottom of the Sea ; The Extraordinary Story of Shackleton and the Endeavor by Jennifer Armstrong, Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles, America’s First Black Paratroopers, by Tanya Lee Stone, anything by Steve Jenkins. New Bear Pond Linda UrbanTitles: The Glass Sentence by S.E. Grove, The Meaning of Maggie by Megan Jean Sovern, Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitxgerald, The Great Greene Heist by Varian Johnson, The Return of Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke.Bear Pond Under the Egg`

MUF: Have you held events or activities at the store for middle graders? Any tie-ins with the faculty of the Vermont College of Fine Arts up the hill?
Jane: Yes, we have! One of the favorites that comes to mind is our poetry month extravaganza in April when we call upon our local school to create and illustrate haikus to decorate the Children’s Room. Bear Pond kids poetryAnd as we speak I am planning a writing workshop for kids this fall with the wonderful Sarah Stewart Taylor, author of the Expeditioners series. Bear Pond ExpeditionersWe have also hosted events with several VCFA faculty, visiting faculty and students, including Leda Schubert, Emily Jenkins (E.Lockhart), An Na, A. S. King, and Tim Wynne-Jones. We also hosted a super fun Reader’s Theater with a group of VCFA alumni who performed some of their new work.

MUF: By the way, where IS Waldo?Bear Pond #1
Jane: Last I heard he was fishing down on the Winooski River. But his whereabouts are kept very hush hush. He likes his privacy when he is vacationing here in July.

MUF: If a family from out of town visited Bear Pond Books,  are there family-friendly restaurants/activities/sights they shouldn’t miss, beyond visiting what must be the nations tiniest capitol building?
Jane: The obvious crowd pleaser in the area is, of course, the Ben & Jerry’s Factory tour. However, the city of Montpelier itself has plenty of restaurants and snacking opportunities: Positive Pie for outstanding pizza, The Skinny Pancake for crepes and Birchgrove Baking for exquisite baked goods and coffee. For some local flavor there is a cool granite quarry called Rock of Ages <http://www.rockofages.com/en/gift-shop-a-tourism>  that gives tours, you can catch the Vermont Mountaineers <http://www.thevermontmountaineers.com/>  play baseball in the summer and there is wonderful live theater downtown at the Lost Nation Theater <http://lostnationtheater.org/> . For a tiny capitol we have plenty of cultural diversion!

MUF: Thank you Jane for sharing your shop and books with us.  Readers, If you’ve experienced Bear Pond for yourself or would like to, please add your comments here.  And if you’re in the area don’t miss the unique pop-up museum and launch party event at Bear Pond on Friday :
http://www.bearpondbooks.com/event/august-1st-gary-miller-museum-americas.

Sue Cowing is the author of the puppet-and-boy novel You Will Call Me Drog (Carolrhoda Books, 2011, Usborne UK, 2012, HarperCollins UK, 2014)

 

Back to Top

Indie Spotlight: Fountainhead Bookstore, Hendersonville N.C.

By on May 30, 2014   /   Book Lists, Indie Spotlight  

You have to love independent book shops!  Can you image the buyer at a chain bookstore  saying, “The main thing we look for is good writing”?  Those are the very words of  Valerie Welbourne,owner/manager of The Fountainhead Bookstore in Hendersonville, North Carolina (www.fountainheadbookstore.com).
MUF: Valerie, how did your shop get its name and get started, and what keeps you going? Fountainhead logo
Valerie: The Fountainhead is a nod to Moby Dick, with the fountain coming out of his head . One of our logos has the spout coming out and if you look closely it says “books books books” over and over.  Our loyal customers keep us going.  They offer not only financial support, but moral support as well.  Nothing is better than bookstore customers!  They are such nice people.
MUF:Describe the atmosphere and layout of your store. What happens when, say, an eleven-year-old comes in looking for a good book?
Valerie: I think our atmosphere is fairly casual.  When an eleven-year-old comes in, I get very excited if they say they are looking for some ideas!  I will ask them some questions first about their preferences, and then pull out several choices I think they might enjoy.  Parents really appreciate this too, because it helps them avoid a “power struggle” with their kids over what to read.

MUF: As middle-grade authors, we’d love to know how you choose what books to carry in your shop?Fountainhead readers
Valerie: We consider many factors.  The main thing that we look for is good writing!  And we also take into account if the book matches our particular customer base.  And finally, we read lots of ARCs.  If someone on the staff loved it, it’s in!

MUF: Can you tell us a few titles, new or old, fiction or nonfiction that you are recommending to middle-graders right now?
Valerie: Middle Grade kids can run the gamut of ability levels and interests, so we take that into account when making recommendations.  If a child is on the younger end of the spectrum and indicates they like more realistic, situational fiction, I recommend anything by Donna Gephart.  If they are older and looking for a new and serious fantasy series, I would recommend the Chaos Walking trilogy.  The Inventor’s Secret is a new steampunk book out for kids that I found very intriguing.  Also, I’m reading the ARC for The League of fountainhead disappearanceSeven by Alan Gratz right now that I am really enjoying.  It is also steampunk.Fountainhead: Inventor's secret Here are a few more I really am a big fan of:  Snicker of Magic (lovely!), The Shakespeare Mysteries (page turners and I learn something), Disappearance at Hangman’s Bluff (coming out this August – great!), fountainhead snicker of magicShark Wars,  and What I Came to Tell You by Tommy Hays.  Actually, I could go on and on…I really am a Tween Fiction enthusiast.  In fact we are starting a Tween Book Club for adults this June at the request of adult customers.

MUF:You have some enticing children’s book camps coming up this summer, most all Fountainhead campof which sound like they’re right up the alley of middle-graders. Please tell our readers a bit about them. Valerie: Our book camps are great fun.  One of my favorites is the one based on Treasure Island.  We have sword fights, do popcorn reading (great language for reading aloud), write our own backstories for some of the characters, do illustrations, scavenger hunts, etc.  I think I have more fun than anyone there.

MUF: What have been some of your favorite events at Fountainhead Books? Have you had some visits from middle-grade authors?
Valerie: We just hosted a Tween Panel Extravaganza, Futainhead tween paneland it was so much fun.  We got amazing feedback from the attendees, which included kids, adults, librarians, and teachers.  Everyone said please do this again!  It helps that we had some incredible authors participating.  They were:  Deron Hicks, John Thompson, Alan Gratz, Donna Gephart, Tommy Hays, and Natalie Lloyd.  I’ve attached a photo of the event.

MUF:If a family visited Fountainhead Books from out of town, would there be family-friendly places nearby where they could get a meal or snack after shopping? And if they could stay awhile, are there other unique sights or family activities in Hendersonville that they shouldn’t miss?
Valerie: Here are some cool places to take kids when visiting Hendersonville, after of course a visit to The Fountainhead Bookstore. These are all within two blocks of the bookstore: * Kilwins ice cream – the best! * Dancing Bear Toys * Hands On Children’s Museum

Thanks, Valerie, for giving us a glimpse into your shop.  It’s always a pleasure to “meet” children’s book store people, because  you’re book readers and curators as well as sellers. Readers, have any of you visited Fountainhead Bookstore (yet)?

Sue Cowing is the author of the middle-grade puppet-and-boy novel You Will Call Me Drog (Carolrhoda 2011, Usborne UK 2012)

Back to Top