Posts Tagged middle-grade readers

Indie Spotlight:Spellbound Children’s Bookshop, Asheville NC

By on April 30, 2013   /   Book Lists, For Parents, For Teachers, Indie Spotlight  

screenshot_707Sue Cowing for Mixed-up Files: This month we’re talking with Leslie Hawkins, the intrepid founder/owner of Spellbound, the only children’s book shop in North Carolina (www.spellboundchildrensbookshop.com/). Rather than close her doors during the late bad recession Leslie downsized her shop temporarily, moved it downtown, and partnered with an art gallery.  But now the shop is doing well and she’s ready to grow again and move  to a site still close to town but with easier parking and more room for activities.  We’re especially glad to feature Spellbound this month, because they’re in the midst of a $18,000 fund-raising campaign with Indiegogo that could make all this happen, and the deadline is May 15. For more details, see: http://bit.ly/GrowBks

MUF:  Leslie, If you do make your goal in the Indiegogo campaign by May 15th, what are your plans for Spellbound’s future?

Artist's view of the new Spellbound space, incorporating some familiar items

Artist’s view of the new Spellbound space, incorporating some familiar furnishings

Leslie Hawkins: Spellbound will expand back to “pre-recession size.” We’ll have a bigger inventory and more space for events. The space will be both bigger and more efficient, as we plan to build an event room that can be closed off to allow private events to take place during store hours. This is something many customers have been asking for, room to have birthday parties, workshops, etc.

MUF: And if you exceed that and make your “stretch” goal you will keep your downtown store as well?  What have been the benefits of sharing space downtown?
Leslie: Well, the many opportunities for cross-promoting, of course. Zapow gallery and Spellbound have expanded each other’s customer reach; we bring more families to the gallery (which has plenty of art that appeals to all ages) and being housed in the gallery has brought in more teens and young adults to see Spellbound’s book offerings.

Spellbound downtown

Spellbound downtown

The biggest benefit has been the capability to share customer service hours. Lauren, co-owner and curator of the gallery, has a masters degree in illustration and is a bona fide kidlit nerd like me, so my customers are in good hands even when I’m not at the store. We have each benefitted from having more time to work on behind-the-scenes business tasks by sharing the customer service workload—and not having to pay each other!
I have, so far, been the only full-time Spellbound staff member.

MUF: You’ve been in a smaller space for awhile, so you’ve probably had to be more selective in what you carry.  How do you decide?  What wouldn’t you do without?
Leslie:  Since being so downsized was only ever meant to be temporary, I have tried to keep the full range of offerings—baby books, early readers, etc.—on hand but yes, necessarily smaller inventory. If this becomes our smaller, satellite location as I envision, the inventory here will be geared more to comics and graphic novels, illustration-heavy books, and teen fiction, to tie in with the core audience for the gallery.
I mostly have relied on a combination of proven sales for backlist—not national bestsellers, necessarily, but what has been consistently in demand here—and my own instinct for frontlist. What do I love? What will I be enthusiastic about? Most of my regular customers come to Spellbound to see what I love and recommend. It’s not the size of the inventory but how it’s curated.

Graphic illustrator Hope Larson with Wrinkle in Time Art Contest winner Crow Thorson

Graphic illustrator Hope Larson with Wrinkle in Time Art Contest winner Crow Thorson

Some titles that I would never want to do without include the Indestructibles baby books from Workman; Betsy Snyder’s board books; the Ivy and Bean series; Nick Bruel’s Bad Kitty books in any format; 39 Clues, Sisters Grimm, and Mysterious Benedict Society series; Kristin Cashore’s Graceling; works by Hope Larson, an Asheville native who has found major national success with her graphic novels; and A Wrinkle in Time, my personal favorite and the very first book ordered for our stock when Spellbound opened in 2004.  And, of course, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler!

MUF: What kind of atmosphere do you try to create in your store no matter where you are?  How do you help books and readers find each other?
Leslie: I always want the bookstore to feel fun and welcoming, and for the staff and books to seem very approachable. The main ways I help connect kids to books are listening closely, asking good questions, and always staying tuned in to my younger self and what would have intrigued or excited me about a book at a certain age. Whether helping a kid, a parent, or both, genuine enthusiasm is by far the best tool in my bookseller toolbox.

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Seymour, R.I.P.

MUF: Tell us about your bookstore dog.  Can children read to him/her?

Leslie: Sadly, Seymour passed away last summer (at 17 years old). He was great company for staff and customers alike. He was very quiet and liked to accompany people around the store as they browsed. He did not, however, enjoy being dressed up, as I learned when I tried to put a Santa hat on him for a holiday ad in the local paper years ago. And yes, he loved being read to!
I am almost ready to adopt a new canine friend from the local animal shelter. My hope is that when I find the right match for me, it will be a dog that will enjoy spending days in the bookstore as much as Seymour did.

MUF: Do you and your staff have particular favorites, fiction or nonfiction, new or old, that you’re recommending to middle-graders right now?
Leslie:
Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made by Stephan Pastis
The Last Dragonslayer: The Chronicles of Kazam by Jasper Fforde
The 13th Sign by Kristin O’Donnell Tubb
The Fourth Stall books by Chris Rylander
When You Reach Me continues to be a hot handsell… and I love that it almost always proves to be a “gateway” book, bringing customers back for A Wrinkle in Time if they haven’t already read it.

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MUF: We notice Spellbound is among the bookstores who have a book club for adults (like us) who like to read children’s fiction.  What’s the book for May?
Leslie: In May we’ll be discussing There Is No Dog by Meg Rosoff.

MUF: Your current downtown neighborhood looks lively.  If some of our readers visited Spellbound from out of town, would there be family-friendly places where they could get something to eat after browsing?  Are there other attractions in Asheville that families wouldn’t want to miss?

Spellbound view of the neighborhood

Spellbound view of the neighborhood

Leslie:  Oh, yes! Chai Pani is a great family-friendly Indian restaurant directly across the street, with an ice cream store located conveniently next door. Early Girl Eatery, just around the corner, is my go-to place and I frequently recommend it to visitors with kids.
We have a kids’ science museum and a group of working art galleries called the River Arts District, where you can watch artists paint, throw pots, blow glass—you name it! And then there are literary attractions like the Thomas Wolfe Memorial and Carl Sandburg’s home. Perhaps the best attraction is the eclectic variety of shops and galleries and street performers you’ll run across as you walk through downtown. Following the Urban Trail is a good way to make it into a game for kids.

MUF:  Thank you Leslie for taking the time to talk with us us about your shop and your dreams for its future.  We’re sure that wherever children and their adults visit you, they’re going to be Spellbound!
Readers, if you’ve been Spellbound already or are glad to know about this shop, please let Leslie know here.  And if you would like to help Spellbound its return to it’s former size or more, please go to http://bit.ly/GrowBks between now and March 15 to find out how.  One of the gifts you receive in return for a donation may be one of these charming locally-designed stuffed bookworms–a great present for an avid reader!screenshot_708

 

 

 

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

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Indie Spotlight: [words] Bookstore, Maplewood NJ

By on February 28, 2013   /   Author Interviews, For Parents, For Teachers, Indie Spotlight  

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Mixed-Up Files posts monthly interviews with the owners of children’s-only bookstores and there are still many more of those to feature, but I’ve recently discovered [words] bookstore in Maplewood, N.J. (wordsbookstore.com), a general independent bookstore with a strong emphasis on children’s books, and most importantly with a unique and hopeful mission. This is a bookstore with a heart, and I’m eager to spread the news. Today I’m talking with [words]Co-owner Jonah Zimiles.

[word] Co-owners Jonah and Ellen Zimiles

[word] Co-owners Jonah and Ellen Zimiles

MUF: I gather you first got into the bookstore business because the only bookstore in Maplewood was closing? How brave!
Jonah: Thank you. We have lived in Maplewood for twenty-three years and raised our two children here. When the economy deteriorated in the Fall of 2008, we wanted to find a way to help our community. My wife and son were walking in town when she saw a sign saying that the bookstore was closing in a month. Ellen thought that we should buy the bookstore, even though we did not have retail or book industry experience.

MUF: Your store has also taken on the unique mission “to help Maplewood become a model community of inclusion” by acknowledging and serving a special community, families with members on the autism spectrum. How did that come about?
Jonah: In addition to assisting our community buffeted by the recession, we were interested in providing a model vocational training program for young people with autism. Our hope is that through our bookstore, we will inspire other for-profit businesses to hire employees with autism. Our son, who is now 17, has autism. We have always found Maplewood to be a warm and welcoming community, and we wanted to play our part in furthering that culture.screenshot_639

MUF: Tell us about your “Second Sundays.”
Jonah: Our Second Sundays programs were created to provide parents of special needs children the opportunity to sample for free many activities that are often available for typical children but unfortunately not for the special needs population. At the same time, it allows us to acknowledge and publicize service providers who are offering these services or to give new ones considering this market a chance to try out working with our kids at our store. Activities include: yoga, karate, arts & crafts, drama, sewing and cooking, to name a few.screenshot_629

MUF: Not only do you welcome autism syndrome kids in your store and provide programs they can take part in, you also employ them as part-time workers and provide vocational training. Tell us how that works.
Jonah: Most of our kids come to us through job sampling programs in their school. They come in small groups with job coaches once or twice per week and progress through a series of jobs depending upon their skill levels and interests. We also have paid employees on our staff with autism.

MUF: Say a ten-year-old comes into your store looking for “a good book.” Do you have some favorite titles, fiction or nonfiction, that you are especially recommending to middle-graders right now?
Jonah: Our middle graders love Rick Riordan, Jeff Kinney and Dan Gutman. One of our favorite books is R. J. Palacio’s Wonder.screenshot_631

MUF: I’ve just re-read Marcello in the Real World for a workshop. It seems there have been a slew of original and engaging novels for children in the last few years whose main characters are somewhere along the autism spectrum——Mockingbird, London Eye Mystery, The Blue Bottle Mystery, Colin Fisher — and that these stories have the positive side-effect of creating insight and understanding in the general reader. Are these books popular at your store? Have any of their authors come for a visit?
Picture 30Jonah: We have seven or eight autism authors visit our store for readings during April for Autism Awareness Month but these authors so far have been non-fiction authors. We have tried unsuccessfully to get Jodi Picoult to our store. Some of our favorites have included practitioners like Ricki Robinson, author of Autism Solutions, researchers like Martha Herbert, author of The Autism Revolution, and parents, like Priscilla Gilman, author of The Anti-Romantic Child: A Story of Unexpected Joy.

MUF: [Words] became an instant community center in another sense after Hurricane Sandy hit, didn’t it?

[words], a haven during Sandy

[words], a haven during Sandy

Jonah: Yes! Most of the power in our town (including in the homes of our owners and most of our employees) and the surrounding towns were knocked out for a week, but power was maintained on the block where [words] is located, so we became a community center to which people came to charge their cell phones and computers, learn the latest news, and to get some needed respite from the travails of the storm and the power outage.

MUF: If a family from out of town came to visit your store, would there be a family-friendly place nearby where they could get a bite to eat after browsing?
Jonah: Yes, dozens! Arturo’s across the street is extremely popular and delicious, and the Laurel offers a terrific relaxed atmosphere with great food.

MUF: And if they could spend some time in Maplewood, are there some family activities or sights in the area that they shouldn’t miss?
Jonah: In addition to our quaint village with many fine shops, we have a beautiful park in our town that is well worth a visit, as well as a gigantic nature preserve, the South Mountain reservation. Of course, the best reason to come to Maplewood is to meet the Maplewoodians!screenshot_636

MUF: Any exciting programs coming up in March?
Jonah: Many! Two are of particular note. On Saturday, March 2, we celebrate Read Across America, with a kids’ Pitchapalooza featuring four local children’s authors. On March 20, Harlan Coben kicks off his publicity tour for his exciting new thriller, Six Years.

MUF: Thank you so much , Jonah, for sharing the goals and programs of your store with us.

Readers, if you’re as inspired as I am to read about what Jonah and Ellen are doing at [words], I’m sure they’d love to hear your comments–and have you visit!screenshot_624

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

 

 

 

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Teaching with Themed Literature Units: Older Middle Grade

By on February 6, 2013   /   Book Lists, For Teachers  

Recently, I wrote about the value of Themed Literature Units, structured units of study designed to develop crucial literacy skills as students read, write about, discuss, and sometimes respond artistically to high-quality children’s literature.  My previous post, “Finding My Way: Teaching with Themed Literature Units,” introduces a strategy for organizing meaningful literacy instruction around memorable middle grade literature.  The post also offers a glimpse into three classrooms where teachers and middle grade students are reading great books on themes such as “Adapting to new situations,” “Taking risks to help others,” and “Courage is inside all of us.”

Today, I’d like to expand our list with an additional themed literature unit for older middle grade readers in an unusual context — a middle school Spanish class.

Overcoming Obstacles in the Search for Identity ~ 8th grade
Ceinwen Bushey is teaching 8th grade Spanish in a Seattle middle school.  She developed her unit, “Overcoming Obstacles in the Search for Identity” to help her students understand their own quests for identity and to recognize similar struggles in other adolescents in Latin America.  She introduced her students to the unit this way:  “For most teenagers like yourselves, middle school is a time of fast growth – physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially. It’s also a time for developing your sense of identity, self-esteem, and relationships with your peers. This is true for kids all around the world, but some have it tougher than others. Imagine having to deal with all the things everyday teens have to deal with, then adding to them some really big obstacles. Think about what it would be like to have to move to a new country, learn to speak a new language, make new friends, eat food you’ve never seen before, not have MTV to watch, not have iPhones or iPads or Facebook, and have people thinking you look weird because you’re different from them. Over the next couple of weeks, we are going to read, write, and discuss the lives of kids your age that are trying to figure things out, just like you, but who are from Latin America and have to overcome really big obstacles like the ones I just mentioned. They are teenagers who have to move to the United States from other countries, and try to figure out who they are; they’re searching for their identity. The end goal of our work together is to promote cross-cultural understanding and develop awareness that the journey toward understanding oneself is universal; that is, it connects us all to one another.”

Big Ideas
The unit guides students to understand two big ideas:
The path to self-discovery is a universal human experience and connects us all; and
Tough experiences are often the ones that teach us the most about ourselves.

Book List
            

As older middle grade readers grow, they yearn to figure out who they are and how they can make a difference in this world.  Ceinwen Bushey’s unit guides her middle schoolers to take a cross-cultural look at ways that young people, like them, find ways to overcome the obstacles in their lives as they search for identity.

Katherine Schlick Noe teaches beginning and experienced teachers at Seattle University. Her debut novel, Something to Hold (Clarion, 2011) won the 2012 Washington State Book Award for the middle grade/young adult and has been named a 2012 Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People.  Visit her at http://katherineschlicknoe.com.

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