Staff Pick: Christie

Travels With Charley

By John Steinbeck

I was into this book on the first page. So much so that I typed out the first three paragraphs during a Skype conversation with my friend who lives in Serbia. She thought the beginning was wonderful as well.

Travels with Charley is exactly what it sounds like. John Steinbeck decides to go on a cross country trip with his dog Charley in order to rediscover America. It gives beautiful descriptions of all parts of America during the early 1960s. Overall, this book just gave me the same sort of wanderlust that Steinbeck seemed to have.

Young Adult Fiction 10/11/2010

The Trolls

by Polly Horvath

The Trolls is yet another book by Polly Horvath that has me convinced that she is one of the best children's book writers today. It is the story of three children whose aunt babysits them while their parents are on vacation. During this time, their aunt tells them stories from their father's past. Some are funny, some are sad, some are a bit frightening. What is true about all of them is that it teaches the children a lot more about their family.

Not only does The Trolls have Polly Horvath's trademark humor, it ends on a serious note, which has kept me thinking about it days after I have read it. It is simple enough for middle schoolers to read, but older people can get something out of it as well. Well done, Polly Horvath, yet again.

JERRY SPINELLI!

The other day, we received mail from Jerry Spinelli himself! It was pretty awesome, and I think I am still reeling from it a bit.

This is what he sent:
His letter was a response to one we had sent a few months ago, proclaiming our love for all things Stargirl that included this picture to show that I loved Stargirl enough to get it tattooed on my arm.
He sent us temporary tattoos, for those who want to show their Stargirl love a little less drastically. All in all, it was awesome.

Store Updates!

Hello All,

So much has happened since last entry. Our children's room got an amazing update - brand new wood floors! They look absolutely fantastic and make reading on the bean bag chairs even better. Here's a photo:

Not only did we get beautiful new floors, we just got a shipment in of new puppets! I spent a good chunk of time processing them today, and they are all so cute! My favorites? I think the octopus is pretty rad, and the turtle wearing a turtleneck is just kind of funny. We got in a bunch of new finger puppets as well - super sweet chicks, black woolly sheep, and more!

You can check out the new and improved children's room TOMORROW when you come to our monthly Poetry Open Mic Night. In case you forgot, it is on October 2 at 7:30pm. If you can't come them, stop in anyways and ask about the other events coming up!

See you soon,

Christie