(That’s Independent Bookstore Day!)
Featuring: The Briar Patch, Bangor, Maine (Where I had my first book signing to debut “The Great Holiday Cookie Swap” last October!)
In New England, school vacations are run a bit differently from most of the rest of the country. We have a week off in February, and a week off in April. So Maine schools were out this week and I had the chance to get back North to visit my hometown and my favorite independent bookstore, The Briar Patch. Bangor Maine’s nickname is the “Queen City,” and this little bookstore, stuffed to the gills with wonderful books (including piles everywhere you look) is definitely a gem in the Queen’s crown. Owner Gibran Graham and the lovely Abby gave me glowing recommendations for several of these books, then set me loose to explore on my own, just like good book sommeliers should! I hope you find your OWN gem as you explore today for Independent Bookstore Day! Read on for the reviews of MY favorites!
My goal is to put out one batch of five picture reviews per month, spending the rest of my writing time on, well, actual writing (and sending out queries to agents and publishers). But when my son told me this morning “Mama, we should go to the bookstore so you can read more books!” how could I resist? My first goal with today’s batch was to choose only books which were NOT faced outward in the store, and I failed that by one, but that’s only because I couldn’t resist a book which, like my upcoming picture book, THE GREAT HOLIDAY COOKIE FIGHT, combines a story with a recipe. All five books are tied together by stories of diversity, acceptance and bravery of one kind or another, and in that way, it’s unfortunate they were not all “face out.”
Father’s Day around our house often means an outing to the bookstore– I rarely buy my husband books because only he knows exactly which ones he’s looking for, and everyone in our family enjoys a good trip to browse new books. So, time for another crop of reviews! Some of today’s choices include father figures, some are just fun. Let’s explore!
It’s tough to have a day job, be a mom AND write– don’t let anyone tell you it isn’t. It can be done, but there will always be times one of the balls in the air falls to the ground and you stumble around for a while until you get them back in the air again.
This time the crop is inspired by a display in my local Barnes & Noble showing off 50 books your child should read before the age of 5. Many of them are books I read as a child, many more are books I’ve already reviewed (and loved), but were are a bunch I hadn’t read yet, so let’s go!
We’re back to school, folks! That means my book review posts may be slightly less frequent as I focus time on my teaching and steal away a bit for writing and submitting. However, I carved out a bit of time this weekend to read some fabulous new books– most out within the past few months! There’s a thread of similarity running through them as they all have to do with relationships, emotions and fitting in– highly appropriate themes for back to school! Enjoy!
As loyal readers know, I’m a teacher and my school year just ended a week ago (long school year + lots of snow days!). That combined with my dad’s passing meant that it’s been a while since I had time to dive back into my writing and it sure feels good! So without further ado, I bring you a new crop of picture book reviews. The books I chose represent five new works which I’ve been dying to read, mostly by authors I know through social media. They’re all pretty wonderful, so enjoy!
My son is turning 9 today, March 12th! He knows his mom is a writer and I’ve dragged him through the children’s section of enough libraries and bookstores for him to develop a bit of an appreciation for picture books. He was excited when I told him I was featuring HIS choices in my picture book reviews today. So, we are taking a departure from my normal rule of keeping the book reviews current and I present for you five of my son’s very favorites! (like me, he has WAY more than five favorites, but some of them I’ve already reviewed, so we settled on these). Instead of MY favorite part, I will include my SON’s favorite part of the book.
Life has been busy at the Schreibenfreude house: I’m a coach for my school’s Speech & Debate team which has recently wrapped up a very successful season, winning awards at States and qualifying two students for Nationals, my kids (and the ones I teach) have been busy with school projects, and if that weren’t enough, we’re currently looking to get a dog– which has taken up a good bit of research time that’s normally spent researching my writing! On the bright side, this is school vacation week here in Maine, and that means more time for writing and reading picture books! Let’s go!
I haven’t had a new blog post in a bit, and if you have been following me, you know why — not only am I a high school teacher busy with new classes, but I also just wrapped up a poetry exhibit at the local library. (More on that later…) So, it was great to dive into the children’s literature world again for a while and immerse myself in some great books I’ve been wanting to read.
School is finally out here in Maine — we’re a bit late to the party, but it sure is nice! This past Saturday, my husband and I also celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary with a dinner date which included a visit to a bookstore. So, naturally, I took the opportunity to catch up on my picture book reviews. Through sheer coincidence, I found several of them had a similar theme: birds and flying. So freedom fits naturally as a theme for today.