Adults Reading Children’s Picture Books
One of the joys of owning a bookstore is choosing the books we sell. As those of you who’ve been in the Open Book Bookstore know, we make our selections very carefully – we carry only good books at our store! And we like to direct our customer/readers toward new discoveries. We do a lot of research before we stock a book, and we’ve read many, if not most, of the books we carry. One fun challenge for us is exploring and learning about new genres. I’m particularly proud these days of the wonderful new children’s picture books we’ve recently added to our collection. Recently we celebrated this collection with an event for adults. Our amazing guest speakers, Heather Devlin Knopf and Julia Way Rix, both artists and children’s book illustrators and authors, shared the process of making a children’s book. Fascinating! Below are listed some new books in our collection – come check them out for your kiddies and grandkids! An Awesome Book by Dallas Clayton – My thanks to our friend and customer Amy Brantz Bedrick for telling me about this book. It celebrates just what is awesome about life, and encourages us to share this awesomeness with those who may be missing out on it. This book brought tears to my eyes. i carry your heart with me – a beautiful setting of a poem by e.e. cummings illustrated by Mati McDonough. The Three Ninja Pigs by Corey Rosen Schwartz – Thanks to Emily Chen for steering me to this fun retelling of the fairy tale where the pig who triumphs in the end is the sister pig who has been paying attention during her karate lessons and practicing. She is prepared for that wolf! Grandfather Gandhi by Arun Gandhi, who really is Gandhi’s grandson. A great story accompanied by stunning art. We have these and so many more books with lively stories, meaningful messages, and gorgeous illustration. Come and...
Hot Off the Press
Announcing a new session of “Hot Off the Press,” the book discussion class where we meet monthly to discuss new literary fiction. The class will meet on Tuesday evenings from 7 to 8:30pm on the following dates: April 5 May 3rd May 31st June 28th This session of the class will have four meetings, and the first one is coming up soon, so hurry and get your first book! (I will have it in stock at Open Book Bookstore by Friday of this week.) We will meet in Elkins Park at the Open Book Bookstore at 7900 High School Road. Here is the list of books: April 5 Forty Rooms by Olga Grushin Deals with issues of women’s identity and women’s choices with a unique literary conceit: it proposes that a modern woman will inhabit forty rooms in her lifetime. They form her biography, from childhood to death. May 3rd Tuesday Nights in 1980 by Molly Prentiss Follows a critic, an artist, and a desirous, determined young woman as they find their way—and ultimately collide—amid the ever-evolving New York City art scene of the 1980’s. May 31st The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett In one moment, two lives will be changed forever… and forever… and forever. A tale of possibilities and consequences rings across the shifting decades, from the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, and on to the present, showing how even the smallest choices can define the course of our lives. June 28th Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler A debut about a year in the life of a young woman is set in the wild, alluring world of a famous downtown New York restaurant. This is a story about discovery, enchantment, and the power of what remains after disillusionment. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP. Cost: The cost for the session is $105. Class members receive discounts on class books. How to Register and Make a Payment: Payment can be made either by mailing a check, made out to “Open Book,” to me at Open Book Bookstore, 7900 High School Rd., Elkins Park, PA 19027, or you may sign up online here. Please feel free to contact Lynn Rosen with any questions at:...
The Oscars and Huckleberry Finn
In January, Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee called for a boycott of the Academy Awards because so few black actors were nominated. They also called for emcee Chris Rock to step down from his position. I’m glad he didn’t. Last Sunday night in the Oscar ceremonies Chris Rock tackled the question of African-American representation in the film business head on, addressing it in his trademark irreverent way. You may or may not have liked Rock’s approach, but I thought this was a great way to use his platform to confront an issue rather than to give it up. This made me think of a recent situation in Philadelphia. As reported in The Philadelphia Inquirer, some students at local high school Friends’ Central were offended by the use of the “n” word in the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Students and faculty took a vote and decided not to have students read the book. What a lost opportunity! What a chance this would have been for teachers to use this as a springboard for a meaningful discussion of racism and race relations, how things have changed over the years, and how things are represented in literature. I say, use the platform you have to talk about making change. Kudos to Chris Rock for taking on an important issue with courage and humor. One of the best novels I’ve read recently that tackles the issue of racism and does so in great literary form is Welcome to Braggsville by T. Geronimo Johnson. It’s out in paperback now, and the Open Book friends to whom I’ve recommended it have all come back to tell me how much they like it. If you read and liked it, post a comment in my blog (click HERE). And of course we have it, as well as Huck Finn, available for sale at the Open Book Bookstore. Finally, I’m happy to share some great recent press for Open Book… An article in the Huffington Post and… An article about how many new bookstores opened last year, including us! Tomorrow at the Open Book Bookstore we a great event for adults about the art and technique of creating great children’s picture books. It’s a free event at 7pm – come on by! Details HERE. Check out other events too, including Writers at Work Conference, Genre Mix ‘n’ Match Writing Class, Dinner and Lunch with a Book, and our fun St. Patrick’s Day...
Get Lit: February 2016
Cold weather caused a pipe to burst last week in the ceiling of the Drama Book Shop on West 40th Street in Manhattan, damaging many valuable books. Lin-Manuel Miranda to the rescue! The creator of the Broadway smash “Hamilton” tweeted to his followers to support the store and later made a video encouraging people to make purchases and donations. His help made a great difference. Just another friendly neighborhood indie bookstore supporter! And btw, have you seen the show? It’s brilliant! In other book news, Harper Lee passed away last week at age 89. To this day, her Pulitzer-prize winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird continues to be a bestseller and its story continues to touch and inspire readers as well as viewers of the film (or maybe that’s due to Gregory Peck…). For decades she was a mysterious one-hit wonder who shunned the spotlight until last year when HarperCollins published Go Set a Watchman, the book that Lee wrote first, and which her editor (wisely) told her to rewrite from the point of view of Scout as a young child. Controversy continues to swirl as to whether Lee, who suffered from dementia later in life, truly wanted this other manuscript published. Closer to home, things are busy at the Open Book Bookstore. According to the American Booksellers Association, we are part of a trend – 61 new stores opened in 2015. Some of our most popular books this month are the new Zahav cookbook by Michael Solomonov, and the entertaining novel The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion, as well as adult coloring books. We even had an coloring book evening — fun! (Don’t worry, we’ll have another!) Young adults are enjoying the new graphic novel Roller Girl and for the littler ones it’s been a season of new classics by favorite writers like Mo Willems and fun new discoveries like local writer Zachariah OHora. What else, you ask? Why, events, of course – lots of ‘em! Such as… Do you love children’s picture books? Click HERE. Looking for a fun and novel (pun intended!) way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day? Click HERE. Want to eat some good food and talk about books? Click HERE and HERE. Have you thought about writing a memoir? Click HERE. Are you interested in learning how to get a book published? Click HERE. Already published and need some advice on what to do now? Click HERE. As always, stay tuned for more!...
The Genre Mix ‘n’ Match Class for Writers
Open Book presents a new series of writing classes offering you the opportunity to try your hand at writing in a variety of genres. It’s a genre smorgasbord! Need help jumpstarting that novel? We’ve got a class for that! Have you ever wondered if you have a poet in you? Try a poetry class! Memoir? Give it a shot! This is a great chance to exercise your writerly muscles with some innovative and stimulating writing instruction. Each class is taught by an expert in the genre. You can try something you’re already working on, or something new, and try one, or try a few. Class will meet at the Open Book Bookstore in Elkins Park. Classes take place either on Sunday afternoons from 3:15pm to 5:15pm or on Monday evenings from 7pm to 9pm. Details and specific class descriptions are below. COST: Classes cost $30 each. Sign up HERE. Bonus: Those who sign up for 4 classes receive an Open Book Bookstore gift card worth $20. Limited time offer. Note: all purchases are final and non-refundable. CLASS DATES, DESCRIPTIONS AND INSTRUCTORS DATE: Monday Jan 11 TIME: 7pm to 9pm TOPIC: Mystery vs. Thriller: Which one are you writing and why does it matter? INSTRUCTOR: Jon McGoran CLASS DESCRIPTION: There are plenty of similarities between mysteries and thrillers, and sometimes plenty of overlap. But there are important differences as well, including some outright contradictions. Jon McGoran will help you determine which genre is best for you by looking at some of the critical differences between these two closely related categories. He’ll teach you ways to incorporate elements of each into the other without making your mystery less mysterious or your thriller less thrilling. TEACHER BIO: Jon McGoran is the author of six novels, including the biotech thrillers Drift and Deadout, as well as their forthcoming sequel, Dust Up (April 2016), all from Tor/Forge Books, as well as the novella After Effects, from Amazon StoryFront. Writing as D. H. Dublin, he is also author of the forensic thrillers Body Trace, Blood Poison and Freezer Burn, from Penguin Books. His short fiction and nonfiction can be found in a variety of anthologies, and his short story “Bad Debt” received an honorable mention in Best American Mystery Stories, 2014. He is a member of the International Thriller Writers, the Mystery Writers of America, the International Association of Crime Writers, and a founding member of the Philadelphia Liars Club, a group of published authors dedicated to writers helping writers. Sign up HERE. DATE: Sunday Jan 31 TIME: 3:15pm to 5:15pm TOPIC: Building a Fictional World in Young Adult Novels INSTRUCTOR: Elizabeth LaBan CLASS DESCRIPTION:...