Children's Book Week 2012

Children's Book Week!

This year's commemorative poster, designed by David Wiesner

May 7-13, 2012

Children’s Book Week is the longest running literacy initiative for young people in the United States.  Here at Porter Square, we're celebrating by rounding up some of the books we loved when we were little (or would have loved, had they been written!) and sharing them with you on the blog and in the store every day from May 7th through the 13th.  If you're interested in what book lovers around the country are doing, you can take part in the nationwide event by checking Book Week's calendar or voting in the Children’s Choice Awards.  And IndieBound's Kids' Next list and our monthly staff picks are full of suggestions for kids and young adults looking for something great to read.  
Kim Prosise

World Book Night Givers Stories

World Book Night was a chance to celebrate the power and importance of books in our world by giving away thousands of copies of thirty different titles.  Over 70 people picked up books here at PSB and distributed all over the area. Some givers had such a good time they came back for more distributing the extra boxes of books we had. Here are some of their stories.

I signed up thinking it would be an okay thing to do and was completely unprepared for how positively people responded to getting the books. I'm still choked up.

I hope all of the kids who read the books I gave out end up as your customers.

Leslie Gildart

I had such a good time giving out my book, The Kite Runner. My partner drove me to the YWCA and Senior Center in Central Square, and the Rindge Ave. and Churchill Ave. apartments in North Cambridge. I, too, wish I'd had more books to give out! The people I met were so happy to receive a book I loved, and they couldn't believe it was free. I'll always remember each delighted, beaming face.

I'm so grateful to you for volunteering to be the drop-off point for books and to all the publishers, shippers, paper companies, and authors that enabled this great event. This kind of thing always makes me so hopeful about humanity. We CAN easily be generous, kind, and open to one another.

I can't wait until next year!
C. Barrett


I distributed all my books today....
I had planned to distribute the books at the Park Street T (subway) station during the early morning rush, but unfortunately it was pouring rain. (We are having a nor'easter.) There was a break in the rain at lunch time, so a colleague and I returned to outside the station where people re-emerged from below and handed out the books. They went pretty fast, but it is funny how many people would not even stop to hear what we were doing. Those who did however seemed genuinely interested. We were out of books in about 12 to 15 minutes and then returned to work. I hope some get journaled!

My first book was Little Bee.

 Today over my lunch hour I took the copies of A Prayer for Owen Meany to Charles Street in Beacon Hill, at the crosswalk that connects the Boston Public Gardens to Boston Common.  I was on the Boston Common side of the street first until the hotdog vendor asked me to move.  For a short while he was yelling “Forget about the books.  I’ll give a free drink with every hotdog sold.”  So I went across the street to the Public Garden side.  In about 20 minutes I was able to give out all my books.  It was tougher to give out A Prayer for Owen Meany than it was for Little Bee due to the book’s heft.  Many people would take it from me and flip through it but give it back to me due to its size in spite of my sales pitch.  Something to remember for next year; book size may scare off light readers.  Also, some people thought it was a religious book because it had the word “prayer” in its title.  I assured them it was not.  This is in line with another bookcrosser’s experience who was distributing The Poisonwood Bible.  She had to assure people it wasn’t a religious bible.  Many people shied away from her because they did not want a religious indoctrination of any kind, even though the book had nothing to do with that.  Tomorrow I plan to release the box of The Hunger Games.  I am thinking of doing it outside the Lowe’s Boston Common as the movie is being shown there.  All these locations are near the office where I work.  Thanks again!   

I ended up giving out the HungerGames books at the Davis Square T station Saturday morning.  A lot of people walking by told me they had already read it and that they really enjoyed it.  I gave one to a girl who was sitting at the outside patio tables at Au Bon Pain next to the T station.  She had a small suitcase with her and it looked like she was going to be traveling.  She eagerly accepted one.  Then a friend started to approach her (who also had a suitcase) and she yelled out to her “Hey, Cheryl that lady just gave me a copy of the “Hunger Games”.  And I ended up giving a copy to her friend too.  They both thanked me as they left to get on the red line.  I think we supplied their reading material for the trip.  I was able to give several copies to people waiting for the bus in front of the station.  I wish I had taken my camera as several of them stood in a loose knot together waiting for the bus reading Hunger Games before the bus came.  Another young woman, probably around 14 was sitting on a bench in front of the station and I asked if she wanted a copy of the book and she said “no”.  After she saw I was giving them away to others without there being any strings, she shyly came over and asked for a copy which I gave her.  She went back to her bench and began reading.  Later I asked a grandmotherly woman if she wanted a copy but she said “no”.  She sat next to the young teen on the bench and asked her about the book she was reading, Hunger Games.  The girl told her it was good and that it had been made into a movie.  Then the grandmother came over to me and asked for a copy after all based on the recommendation the young teen had given her.  Another grandmotherly type woman was walking with I assumed to be her granddaughter and I asked if they wanted a book.  At first they said “no” and she asked me what this was all about.  I told her about World Book Night and that the idea was to encourage people to read more, especially those that were light readers.  She thought that was a great idea and took a copy.  I can see that becoming a grandmother-granddaughter shared activity for them.  But my favorite was the woman who was passing by and said World Book Night was Monday and why was I passing out books now?  I told her I passed out my books on Monday, but these were copies people did not pick up from Porter Square Books.  She said she thought the whole idea of World Book Night was a fabulous concept and was appreciative I was out there distributing the additional books.  All in all it took less than 20 minutes for me to give away this batch of books.       
I stopped by Porter Square Books on Sunday (I was going grocery shopping at Shaw’s) and asked someone at the desk if there were any WBN books left that still needed to be distributed.  They said “yes” and gave me a box of Housekeeping which I plan to distribute sometime this week.  Thanks again!  Passing out these books has been a blast!

Annamarie Kersten

My friend Leslie and I, along with her son Sam, distributed our books this afternoon along Rindge Ave. in North Cambridge. Of the first 6 people we offered a book to, 3 refused. That was surprising! But within an hour I had given out all of mine and Leslie had given out half of hers. At one point, we followed an ice cream truck into the public housing on Rindge Ave., feeling sure that we would find lots of people ready for a book with their ice cream. Sadly, as it was raining, there was only one customer, but we gave a book to him and one to the ice cream truck man as well. It was very satisfying to give away books. As a children's librarian, I know how important it is for people learning to read to have books around at home. If you have any influence with the World Book Night people, I would recommend that they include books for younger readers next year.

Thank you so much for participating. Porter Square Books is the best!

Stephanie Tournas

I gave my twenty copies of Sherman Alexi's book to my ESL adult students at SCALE in Somerville and one to my boyfriend's daughter. We took a picture of the whole class with each student holding their copy of the book. We read the first chapter aloud to give them a taste of the book, but I told them that it is theirs to do whatever they want with - read, not read, or give to someone else. It is not a class assignment. I'm very curious to see who reads it and to hear their reactions. They seemed very pleased with the gift. One student talked about how in Brazil (where she's from) a teacher would never do that sort of thing. I think she was very touched. After one student asked me to write something in his book, there was a chain reaction of requests to do the same. I felt like a celebrity. It was the perfect book for me to give away because I am so CRAZY about it. In the next class, I'm going to have each of them write about their reaction to the whole thing. Then I'm going to write an article for the school newspaper about the whole experience and I can include quotes from the students' writing.

I can't wait for next year to do it again!

Laura

I gave away Little Bee at a Roxbury charter school called City on a Hill.  I am forwarding pictures (I hope you can see them!) of our give-away.  Three teachers signed up to give away books, and we quickly gave away all 60 books.  You can see that we were mobbed (the group outside the classroom door is waiting to get in to get their books)!  It was wonderful to see students so excited to get a book.  Thank you so much!

Sincerely,
Kim Jalet, English Teacher, City on a Hill 

 

Poem in Your Pocket Day!

Tomorrow, Thursday, April 26, is Poem in Your Pocket Day!

So find a poem you love and carry it around with you.  Leave it underneath your saucer at the coffee shop.  Give it to your bus driver.  Post it in the comments.  Spread it, share it, swap it--start a conversation with it.

Don't have a poem?  Grab a free (and adorable) micro-chapbook by Origami Poems Project from our National Poetry Month display.  You can find them all over the place!
Kim Prosise

World Book Night 2012

Porter Square Books will be a pick up location for World Book Night!   

Book selections are also on display in the store.
Kim Prosise

Get Obsessed!

Comedian Aaron Karo's new novel just hit shelves, and it's great.  I hadn't heard of Karo before I picked it up, but I liked this YA debut enough for his previous books to secure slots on my reading list (Ruminations on College Life, Ruminations on Twentysomething Life, and I'm Having More Fun Than You). 

Lexapros and Cons is fast-paced, uplifting, and laugh out loud funny.  Seventeen year old Chuck Taylor with his hand sanitizer and color-coded Converse All-Stars is a sympathetic and memorable hero.  His sarcasm and self-consciousness temper even the book's few stock moments: "I have become a cartoon character.  I am literally hiding behind a bookshelf peering at Amy through an opening in the books.  I'm toeing the line between spying and stalking... I glance up at what section I'm in.  It's Women's Studies.  Even the Dewey decimal system is mocking me." 

That's probably Karo's closest call with cliche.  For the most part, the book feels incredibly real.  From the Indian guy who talks like Jay-Z, to Chuck's parents and his psychologist, Karo's characters are consistently on point, their mannerisms and idiosyncrasies not only palpable but familiar.  And the love interest is decidedly more than just a pretty face.   

It's also full of compassion for the complex emotions that accompany mental illness in young people while remaining staunchly upbeat.  We take Chuck's problems seriously, but if Lexapros and Cons were a movie (and I'm sure it will be) it'd be PG-13 for language and acknowledging that teenage boys think about sex uncomfortably often, not for any dark content.  I love that the novel manages to capture timeless adolescent concerns in the age of Google and Adderall without preaching to or belittling those who are caught up in it.  And the clever chapter headings and snappy self-referential jacket are irresistible. 

Published by Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux

Kim Prosise

You’ve Finished Dance with Dragons

So you’ve finished A Dance with Dragons and need something new to read. Though it probably won’t be as long a wait for the next installment in the Song of Ice and Fire, it still won’t be tomorrow. Here are some suggestions for books to tide you over.

The Religion by Tim Willocks. This somewhat historical novel is set during the siege of Malta where the Ottoman empire sent the largest armada in history against the Knights of Saint John the Baptist, and follows the exploits of the Saxon soldier of fortune, Mattias Tannhauser. This is sword and ax swinging action at its best, complicated by religious conflict, geopolitics, and romantic betrayal.

The Long Ships by Frans Bengtsson. I believe this is the best adventure novel ever written. This Viking saga is the tale of Red Orm, from when he is kidnapped from his small coastal village, until he returns home as a powerful and wealthy lord. He rows a slave ship for an Arabian Caliph. He raids Irish villages and attacks all the way to the heart of England. He even gets so far East, his party comes in contact with Genghis Khan. Along with the battles and high seas adventure you expect from anything involving Vikings, Bengtsson sets the adventure in the time when Christianity was just beginning to reach the Viking cultures. A monk eventually falls in with Red Orm, and (somewhat reluctantly) becomes Orm’s official missionary. In wonderfully subtle ways, Bengtsson captures the process of understanding a totally foreign belief system. For example, the first step in Orm’s semi-conversion is when he decides to give this Jesus guy a try and has his men pray to him before a battle. They win and add Jesus to the list of other gods they invoke before heading off to kill people in bunches. I lent my first copy to my father, and he quite politely informed me that there was absolutely no way he was going to part with it. So I bought another to have on my shelves.

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. Brandon Sanderson is probably best known as being the writer trusted with finishing Robert Jordan’s epic Wheel of Time series, but he writes his own sci-fi and fantasy as well. The Way of Kings has a bit more sorcery than Song of Fire and Ice, and all the politics, intrigue, and adventure. Following a surgeon’s son who ends up at the lowest rung of slave society, a young noble woman in a desperate plot to save her family, and one of the high princes of the realm, this massive, opening book promises a complex story, with compelling characters, in a richly textured and fantastic world.

The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. Though most famous for his horror novels, many believe his fantasy epic The Dark Tower is Stephen King’s best work. At 19, King decided he wanted to write something like the Lord of the Rings. Chiefly inspired by the Robert Browning poem “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came,” and drawing from the spaghetti westerns, he published the seven books and one short story in the series over the course of 22 years. It’s the story of Roland Deschain, the last of the gunslingers and his quest to find the Dark Tower.

Support Independent eBooks

Like independent bookstores, small and independent publishers are vital to our literary culture. They take risks on new authors, fill niches, and produce and sustain the diversity of voices that enriches American society. Often, these publishers are so small, they don’t have the resources to distribute their books so they find larger distributors or join together to make sure their books get into stores.

Independent Publishers Group was founded in 1971, the first organization specifically created for the purpose of representing titles from independent presses to the book trade. Recently IPG has been in the news because of its conflict with Amazon. Though we don’t know the exact terms of the conflict, Curt Matthews, chief executive of IPG, in a post argued that the small publishers could not have stayed in business under the terms Amazon offered. (And while you’re on the IPG blog, read through some of the other posts. They are great insights into publishing.) In response to their inability to reach an agreement, Amazon removed all of IPG’s titles from its Kindle store. That’s 4,443 titles that can no longer be purchased for the Kindle.

We need small, independent publishers, in the same way we need small independent bookstores, so we are highlighting ten ebooks from IPG publishers on our homepage for the month of April. Fiction, history, spirituality, sci fi and more. Independently published titles, that, at least at the moment, are not available in ebook form on Amazon. Click here for the full list.