Village Books Blog

The Phantom Tollbooth Rocks My World

(Yep. That's my original copy from 1989. I wish I could make it scratch-n-sniff for you because it smells like love and happiness.)

The other day my 10-year-old niece handed me a book and said, "I keep forgetting to give this to you." It was a copy of The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. Apparently when my niece was visiting my parents in Pennsylvania last year, my mom gave her the book and told her to pass it along to me. To my niece, she was just doing what she was told. But to me, this meant the world. This book wasn't just any books, it was mine--the one that I had read as a wee little lass, when I first discovered the magic that is The Phantom Tollbooth.

I held the book in my hands and swear I heard a "whoosh" as the memories of first reading the book came back to me. I was enamored Milo's adventures. A market place that sold letters and a watchdog whose body was literally a clock? How could I not love that? To this day, I still get unnerved when I think of the expressionless man who tries to delay Milo by making him count grains of sand with tweezers. These are the snippets I tell children about when they come to the store looking for a book that isn't Harry Potter or Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I have yet to hear a kid say that he or she didn't like the book. They always return with rave reviews. And why not, you know? I mean, The Phantom Tollbooth is an astounding piece of children's literature that is in a class of its own.

I'm as giddy as a jumping bean (are jumping beans giddy?) to have my copy back in my hands. And has my niece read the book? You better believe it. She has a copy of her own now too. What an amazing gift we have in books. They entertain us in the moment, but stay with us our entire lives.

-Lindsey

P.S. Is there a book from your childhood that makes you as giddy as a jumping bean too? If so, post it in the comments.

 

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The Importance of Family Time

My mom is my best friend. We're like "Gilmore Girls," but without the teenage pregnancy. We spend a ton of time together hanging out, but it was not until last night that I realized how time together as a family, and family time are two completely different things. Due to boredom from being snowed in we decided to bust out some board games and change things up a bit. I cannot remember the last time I had that much fun, laughing about things that out of context seem stupid but when you're playing board games, they are the most hilarious phrases you've ever heard. It's moments like these that make up a family.

Some of the most important memories from my childhood were when we had what I call family time. For me it isn't just all being in the same room together. It's working towards a common goal that involves the minds of every person involved, like playing board games. Now that is a trivial example, but others are cooking a big Sunday dinner together, building a treehouse together, or reading a book together. This last example is in my opinion the single most important thing a family can do together. It's a way for the parents to educate their children and help facilitate their intellectual growth. It's also a way for children to develop their imagination and start figuring out who they want to be, knowing their parents support them. Reading puts us in other people's shoes, and since identity is such a huge issue for children this is a great way for them to develop it within their home with their families present unlike the modern-day alternative of running away from home to find yourself.

My mom read to me every single day from the second she found out she was pregnant with me. I believe this is why we are as close as we are, but also why I am the person that I am. Yes, Dr. Seuss and Goodnight Moon are fantastic books but it wasn't the words that mattered as much as the act of reading as a family was. Even though I'm now all grown up we have decided to still have family time, because no matter how old you get, you're never too old for your family.

--Kyle

Guest Post: Kirby Larson, 'The Friendship Doll'

Kirby Larson is the author of the 2007 Newbery Honor Book, Hattie Big Sky. She will be at Village Books on Saturday, September 10, 2:00pm for her latest book, The Friendship Doll.

    I played with Barbies growing up (whatever happened to Midge?), and still have my Meg of Little Women Storybook Doll. But generally I was the kind of kid who preferred running around outside or reading. Dolls just weren’t – aren’t – my thing.  

    So how is it that I came to spend five years working on a book about a one? To steal a line from the movie Shakespeare in Love: “it’s a mystery.”    

    The mystery began in the basement of the Montana Historical Society. I was researching for Hattie Big Sky, rummaging around in a room full of odds and ends. Between some enameled coffee pots and kerosene lanterns I found a photograph, dated 1928:

(photo credit: Montana Historical Society)

    I was fascinated. How did this little Montana farm girl and this exquisite doll find one another? They seemed such unlikely pals given dicey US/Japanese relationships at that time. I wrote myself a few notes about the photo and tried to put it out of my mind in order to finish my novel. But every once in awhile I would allow myself a few minutes to work on the puzzle of girl and doll. I eventually learned that these Friendship Dolls were gifted to the children of the United States by the children of Japan in thanks for some 13,000 blue-eyed baby dolls sent in 1927 as part of a church-based goodwill project. The man behind that project, Dr. Sidney Gulick, a missionary to Japan, was broken-hearted over the bad blood between the two countries he loved. He knew what a treasured place dolls held in Japanese culture, ergo, the doll drive. He also knew that Japanese people were reluctant to accept a gift without giving one in return so he did his best to assure that no thanks were needed for the baby dolls sent by American Camp Fire groups, Scout troops and Sunday school classes.   

    His words went unheeded. Every child in Japan contributed one sen, about half a cent, to pay for the Friendship Dolls. Master craftsmen competed for the honor of making one. About the size of a 4- or 5-year-old girl, they had gofun (ground oyster shell paste) faces and limbs and real human hair, styled in a dark bob. In all, 58 were created – one for each prefecture in Japan, as well as its territories and major cities. When completed, the dolls traveled by steamer to San Francisco and then were divided into smaller groups to tour the States. They visited big cities like New York and Washington, D.C., but visited small towns, too, like Pomeroy and Pullman. After a year of touring, the dolls were given homes in each of the 48 states (some states received more than one). Miss Tokushima, Washington state’s doll, now resides at the Northwest Museum of Art and Culture in Spokane.   

    Okay, okay: so the dolls are historically interesting. But why write a historical novel about them? Honestly, I had no intention of doing so until I “met” Miss Tokushima in about 2005. One look at her expressive face and pensive eyes and I was certain she was trying to tell me something. And I was certain that what she was saying was this: tell our story.    

    Discovering that story took me many years and many false starts. Eventually, I heard the tart voice of Miss Kanagawa, a doll who had as much use for a child as a dog did for a flea and I was hooked. I suspected that today’s readers could genuinely connect with kids living through the tough times of the Great Depression and so the story is set primarily between 1927 and 1941 and tells how one Japanese doll impacts the lives of four girls -- and one contemporary boy.    

    Of the original 58 Friendship Dolls sent to the states, 13 are missing today, including Miss Kanagawa. Maybe, just maybe, one reader of The Friendship Doll will help solve the mystery of those missing dolls. Wouldn’t that make a great ending to this story?

For more information about the Friendship Dolls, go to http://wgordon.web.wesleyan.edu

For more information about Kirby, go to www.kirbylarson.com or www.kirbyslane.blogspot.com
  

Camp Village Books!

 
Here at Village Books we are ready to take summer seriously. This year, we are hosting Camp Village Books each Thursday in July and August. The camps, which are from 1-5pm and are for 8- to 13-year-olds, highlight different themes and activities each week, from science experiments to art activities, to games and field trips around Fairhaven.

There are lots of reasons why you should sign up your kids or grandkids for Camp Village Books this summer. First, the hands-on experiments, crafts, and activities we have lined up are going to be educational & entertaining, sometimes messy, and always FUN. Second, we will show kids all the great books that are related to each week's theme. Third, since each week has a different theme, no two camp sessions are alike, and so kids can and should sign up for more than one session (if you sign up for four or more, the price goes down). Fourth, VB staffer Christina knows how to be kid-like, and you can count on her for playing games and doing all activities together with the campers. Fifth, Village Books is just one of the greatest places Christina can think of to spend a summer hanging out with other kids doing fun stuff.

Here's a break down of each session and some of the projects kids can look forward to:

Thurs., July 14th, Mad Science Camp
Come prepared to make messes, do science experiments, learn about why things happen & how, and talk about the scientific method. We'll create Frankenstein's Hand, do experiments looking at pH levels in food, light a light bulb using lemons, and maybe even drop egg parachutes out of the window of Book Fare Cafe! And much more!

Thurs., July 21st, Games We Used to Play
Today we will play all types of  low-key and energetic old-fashioned games...the kind mom, dad, grandma & grandpa used to play. We'll learn the rules in marbles and perfect our technique. Play a game of jacks. Create never-ending stories while sitting in a circle. Come have a fun day of running around and squealing with laughter.

Thurs., July 28th, Observing Nature Through Art
Make hand-bound art books with Christina using recycled office paper, rubber bands and sticks. After making our own original books, we'll hit the interurban trail in Fairhaven and take an easy-going walk in search of nature objects. We'll stop along the trail at various points to observe the sights, sounds and smells, and then record them in our books using watercolors, markers, pencils, pens and crayons.

Thurs., Aug. 4th, Behind the Scenes Businesses
This is a day for taking a field trip around Fairhaven. We'll be stopping in at a variety of local businesses to see how they run their storefronts and restaurants behind the scenes. Campers will get to experience what it's like in receiving rooms, kitchens, offices and repair shops. Everyone will come home with a new understanding of what it takes to run a business, and may get some free goodies as well.

Thurs., Aug. 11th, Writing IS Fun
Now, I'm sure you're thinking, “what kid wants to go to writing camp in the summer?” But, this isn't your average writing camp. We won't be learning about essay form, perfect grammar, composition, or research papers. Instead, we'll be learning about all of the creative ways kids can use writing to have fun. We will write our own Mad Libs, write haiku outside on the sidewalk, get an intro to slam or performance poetry, and do a brief intro to screenwriting.

Thurs., Aug. 18th, Performing Arts 101
Today's activities will be completely hands-on, and will bring in a few experts in theater, dance and music to do mini performing arts workshops. Local improv teacher from Improv Playworks, Sheila Goldsmith will come do an introductory improv workshop with the kids that will have everyone giggling.

Thurs., Aug. 25th, Maritime Science & Exploration
This week we'll learn about ships, boats and other maritime-related topics. We will talk about tall ships, learn to tie basic nautical knots, take a walk down to the water for some beach-combing, and make origami paper boats, shell rubbings, and other sea-related crafts.

More info about our camps:
Cost: $30 for each session, or $25 each if you enroll in 4 or more! All registrations must be received by 5pm on the Sunday prior to camp date. Space is limited. Camps without a minimum enrollment of 5 will be canceled and registrants will be notified. Register at the VB main counter or print out a registration form (attached below) and mail it or bring it in. A snack and water will be provided at the camp. Call
671-2626 for questions.

Two Very Different Books You Need to Read

What to read, what to read? Perusing bookshelves for the next thing to take on is tons of fun, but really daunting. So many books. That cover is really cool, but the story sounds kinda lame. That cover is awful, but you've heard great things about that book. Let me make things easy for you. Read these books: The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai and The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan.

I don't typically read the werewolf/vampire books, but a trusted friend recommended this one to me, so I had to listen. I now have to step off my high and mighty "I don't read werewolf/vampire books" pedestal because not only have I read one, I also loved it. Since I'm not a reader of this genre, it's tough for me to say that this isn't your typical werewolf book, but I'm gonna say it. This isn't your typical werewolf book. It's about Jake Marlowe, the last remaining werewolf to be taken out by the World Organisation for the Control of Occult Phenomena. But after already being alive a couple hundred years, Jake just doesn't care anymore. He's the existential werewolf. What more could he possibly live for? Well, there's always something to live for, right? It's not long before Jake finds his reason. The same friend who recommended this book also gave the best description: It's like Le Carre wrote a werewolf novel. That's spot on. Even if werewolf books aren't your "thing," you should give this one a shot.

What's the deal with this one? Ok, so. Lucy Hull is a children's librarian in a small Missouri town. She loves books, but hate the restraints put on her by conservative co-workers and parents. She leads the story time, but can't read or recommend anything too "controversial." You know, like Harry Potter. Fortunately, she and 10-year-old book devourer, Ian, have figured out ways to get him the literary contraband without his fundamentalist Christian parents finding out. But that's not the basis of the story. Things really get rolling when Ian dupes Lucy into kidnapping him. Is she saving him from harmful parents or using the kidnapping as an excuse to break free from her confining life? This book is an homage to books. Many of the chapters are written in the styles of some of our favorite books, from Pat the Bunny to the Choose Your Own Adventure books. It's a fun read, so perfect when you need a break from an existential werewolf.

--Lindsey

P.S.--click the book covers for more info on these books or to order a copy.

A Humble Rebuttal

A few weekends ago, a large kerfluffle erupted over an article posted to the Wall Street Journal website regarding Young Adult books and their often dark, disturbing content and themes. Hundreds (if not thousands) of people have responded via blogs, Twitter (check #yasaves), and other news sources. Two of my favorite replies so far have been provided by NPR and Sherman Alexie. I would also like to add my own thoughts as the YA buyer for the store.

Adults and teens read for many reasons. Some books are pure entertainment, some are for edification, some are just read because everyone else is reading them. The ability for books to be an escape is just as strong for a YA reader. To be able to jump into someone else’s life (regardless of whether the reader’s life is easy or difficult) provides an opportunity for empathy and a certain amount of “This could be me.” The mental exercise of putting yourself in someone else’s shoes and realizing the mistakes we all make and the crappy decisions we all have to face is a skill that fosters understanding and compassion.

Reading can also be the starting point for discussions among friends and between caregiver and child. We’ve all had “that friend” who was too reckless, too depressed, too thin. And sometimes we don’t know what to say. Whether we are the parent, or the friend, or the person that everyone else is worried about, these books provide language to start these conversations, to say to someone, “I’m worried about you.” If you are the parent of a teenager, I recommend reading the books that your kids are reading so that if they do have questions, or need answers, or want to share their feelings and concerns about someone, you have some of that language at your disposal.

As the YA book buyer, there are two other points that I think got really lost in the original article. First, how fabulous that we are discussing the “problem” of kids reading! I have seen plenty of parents and uncles and grandmothers come into the store, hoping to find a book that will hook their young reader. If kids are reading, that is cause for celebration, not for hand-wringing. Secondly, if I was that customer originally cited in the WSJ article, I would ASK THE BOOKSELLER FOR SUGGESTIONS. We are here to help you. We know books. Books are our job. We have a secret delight in matching just the right book for just the right person. If you see me on the bus, I am reading. If I’m not reading, I’m listening to podcasts about books. I follow book blogs. I read these books so that if you need a YA suggestion, I’m going to have some ideas for you. Not every book is right for every reader, but, with our help, hopefully we can find a great match.

--Sarah

Guest Post: Stephanie Dethlefs, Founder & Director of Young Writers Studio

When people ask me why I started Young Writers Studio, I don’t always have an easy answer. Sure, it’s a wonderful blend of my two occupational passions: teaching and writing. But in truth it has very little to do with me, and everything to do with supporting, encouraging and honoring the voices and stories of our local young people.

This Sunday Young Writers Studio will be celebrating the second issue of our semi-annual publication, Snippets from the Pens of Young Writers. While there are many high-quality places nationally where kids and teens can submit for publication (Teen Ink, Stone Soup, and New Moon, for example) what seemed to be missing was an avenue for publishing the unique poems, stories, essays and more by the young people of Whatcom County. The overwhelmingly positive response to our first issue confirmed that we were on to something.

In Volume 1, Issue 2, thirty-one Whatcom County writers ages 8 to 16 share their thoughts on issues ranging from the loss of a loved one to the legalization of gay marriage. Self-reflection and imagination soar from the pages in images of hedgehogs thwarting playground bullies, the rich smells of homemade spaghetti sauce, pencils stolen from another’s desk, and the safety of one’s one bedroom. Biographies of famous Americans are woven in with personal narratives and tales of superheroes and gambling cats, drawing parallels between the lives of individuals past, present, and completely fictional.

Everyone is invited to join us in honoring our community of young writers in the Readings Gallery of Village Books on Sunday, June 12, at 4 p.m.  Contributors will be invited to read and sign copies of the book. Copies of Snippets, printed on the Espresso Book Machine, will be available for purchase. Proceeds from book sales will go to support Young Writers Studio’s free programming in local public schools.

In the words of Ian Brown, age 13:

            Home is transforming a blank, white sheet of paper

            Into a schooner riding on stormy seas,

            Or my cat balancing on the edge of a chair.

               -From “Homemade Spaghetti Sauce”, page 76

 

For more information about the event on Sunday, June 12, 4:00pm, click here.

You can read more about Young Writers Studio by visiting their website: www.youngwritersstudio.org

 

Guest Blog Post: Clete Smith, author of Aliens on Vacation

Clete Barrett Smith is a high school teacher and Bellingham resident. He is holding his book launch for Aliens on Vacation at Village Books on Thursday, May 5, 5:00pm.

    I’ve never actually been to many of my favorite places.   

    But I had fantastic tour guides.  

    I’ll never forgot hopping on the back of a horse as Larry McMurtry took me across the beautiful yet dangerous plains of 19th century America over thousands of pages of the Lonesome Dove novels. Or all the times Pat Conroy showed me the tension simmering below the Southern hospitality of his beloved South Carolina. (Although I do confess that sometimes I wish I could forget the things that Stephen King showed me whenever he pulled back the curtain on Derry, Maine.)   

    I don’t feel too silly about falling in love with these places I’ve never been. At least I could buy a plane ticket someday and visit them to see for myself. What really kills me is becoming obsessed with a locale that does not even exist. What I wouldn’t give to spend a long weekend sightseeing around Westeros, the setting for George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy novels.   

    It was this longing to journey to an imaginary land that inspired me to write stories of my own. When I was in second grade a family friend gave me a box set of the Chronicles of Narnia. I started reading on a Sunday night and the next morning faked a major illness so that I could stay home from school and read all day. This continued for the rest of the week until I finished the series.   

    When the last book was done the thing I desired most was to visit Narnia. (At the time I thought I would never forgive my parents for the fact that our house did not contain a single wardrobe.) So I had to invent a Narnia of my own.   

    My parents used to take me camping near Mt. Baker, which proved to be the ideal setting. I launched twig-and-leaf versions of the Dawn Treader from the banks of the Nooksack River and defended our campsite from talking wolves and other evil minions of the White Witch with branch-swords.   

    It wasn’t until I got older that I realized how lucky I was to spend my childhood in a place of such natural beauty. When I wrote my first book, I wanted it to take place somewhere that would seem as special as those locales from my favorite novels. That setting wasn’t hard to find.   

    My story, a middle grade adventure titled Aliens on Vacation, concerns a 12-year-old boy who discovers that space aliens are using his grandmother’s bed & breakfast to hang out on Earth in disguise. The destination for these space tourists from all over the universe? A fictionalized town up in the forested wilderness near Mt. Baker, very close to the spot of all of those magical childhood camping trips.   

    I had so much fun revisiting these places as an adult, hiking along the Nooksack and taking notes for my story. I was able to reconnect with those feelings I had about the forest as a kid: that it was a fantastic place where anything could happen.   

    As my first book gets ready to go out in the world, my greatest hope is that I can serve as a tour guide for a new generation of young readers, and that the Pacific Northwest will become one of their favorite places in the world.   

    Even if they’ve never actually been here.

Books: What the Cool Kids are Reading

My 9-year-old niece is a huge reader, which is no secret. I’m thrilled that, even as her interest in fashion and shopping has risen, reading is still her priority.

The other day I was browsing through the shelves of advance reading copies that publishers send booksellers, looking to see if there was something my niece might want to read. I grabbed of a book called Aliens on Vacation by Clete Smith. I didn’t know anything about this book, not even that Clete is a local author. But, based on other books that my niece has read and loved, it seemed right up her alley.

I took the book to her later that day, along with a few others. She grabbed Aliens on Vacation and squealed, “Oh. My. God. Marissa brought this book to school the other day and was bragging because she had a copy and knew that no one else could get it because it wasn’t out yet. And I told her, ‘I bet my Aunt Lindsey could get me a copy.’ AND YOU DID!” I felt like the coolest aunt in the world.

I love the idea of my niece and her friends bragging about what book they have, not what designer jeans they’re wearing. And I’m more than happy to continue being my niece’s book “pusher.” What about you? Have any kids in your life that go ga-ga over books? And do you take on the role of book pusher?

--Lindsey

Clete Smith will be having the book launch for Aliens on Vacation at Village Books on Thursday, May 5, 5:00pm.

Will the children of today be the eBook readers of tomorrow?

You can now purchase Google eBooks through us! To learn more about Google eBooks, click here. To see featured titles and learn about downloading Google eBooks to your particular eReader, click here.

Will the children of today be the eBook readers of tomorrow?

Emphatically, yes. Will we, as their parents and grandparents, speak the same literary language they do?  I assert that we must. We must embrace the new digital format for reading books and continue to read into the future, as leaders in a new literary country. And this is not a country for nostalgic resistance. Pick up your iPad or your Sony Reader proudly. Save the book stores that you love by buying paper books and using their websites as your source for downloading your digital books. Download, save, read, notate, enlarge, consume the words as never before. Become e-savvy. Choose to join the wave and don’t be left behind in the papered world of old books that must crumble to dust, as all things worldy must. Open your mind to the possibilities.

As a book seller at Village Books I’ve heard arguments on both sides of this issue. The romantic booksellers say, ‘No, nothing will ever satisfy like a paper book, with pages to turn, pages to write one’s thoughts on the margins, to carry in one’s hand.’ However, I will own both: paper books and eBooks.  Nothing can diminish the physical beauty of the paper books I’ve filled my home with, the books I carry everywhere I go, the books I read in bed late into the night.

And yet… And yet, I also love the new technology. I will download a portable library to take with me, in my back pack, with my water bottle, with my writing journals, and I will continue to feed my book-hungry brain with the tools of our new age. My iPad will become my new portable bookshelf.

What will I download first? Shakespeare? Mary Oliver’s poetry? The Zen texts of Thich Nhat Hanh?  How about the new biography of Teddy Roosevelt? How about a Sudoku book?

I recently read a study in which children, who are reluctant readers, will actually read more books on a digital reader than an intimidating book with many pages. The answer to the teaching of literacy to recalcitrant young students may actually be in a electronic hand-held device. If that is what it takes to get kids to read, I’m all for it. Remember, it is the message, as well as the medium, that prevails. It is the words, the story, not the physical book that we absorb. Words trump book. --Cindi