Janet's Five Choices for Juneteenth, Father's Day, and Rhinoceroses

• 150th anniversary of Juneteenth: Friday, June 19, 2015
• Father's Day: Sunday, June 21, 2015
• Rhinoceroses...are for every day?

Slavery in Philadelphia by Phillip Seitz (Create Space, $16.00)

The Rebellious Life of Rosa Parks by Jeanne Theoharis (Beacon Press, $17.50)

The Barefoot Book of Father and Daughter Tales retold by Josephine Evetts-Secker (Barefoot Books, $23.99)

Rhymoceros by Janik Coat (Abrams, $15.95)

Hippopposites by Janik Coat (Abrams, $14.95)

Janet Elfant, June 2015

Author Interview: Cordelia Jensen

by Jennifer Sheffield

Hi, Cordelia! Congratulations on the imminent release of Skyscraping! (Details below on the June 6 book launch party!) Here is my synopsis:

"Newborn stars / take millions of years to form ... / But the constellation of a family / can shift shape / in seconds." Mira starts her senior year on top of the world, ready for college, ready to preserve the glories of high school in perfectly laid out yearbook form. But then her world is rocked by family secrets, and, before she can overcome her rage and sense of betrayal, rocked again. And now she needs to pull herself back out of the chaos and get her world in order, while there is still time. Deeply powerful free verse novel about love and fear and family, and how to manage when the world turns upside down.

I know that Skyscraping began as a memoir. What prompted you to change it to fiction, and what was that process like? Did it change how you felt about the writing and about the story?

I changed it to fiction for the creative freedom that decision gave me. It allowed me to change characters and plotlines the way that made sense with the story, as opposed to having to be strictly true to life. It was also a healing process for me to change things—like my own father was too sick to attend my high school graduation but Mira’s dad sees her graduate. However, it was very hard, at times during the revision process, to not feel protective of the original story or characters. For example, my editor (rightly so) really pushed for Mira to act out more against her dad and be angrier with him. This was REALLY hard for me to do because I still miss him a lot and think of him mostly in a positive light now and I had a hard time dredging up the anger. I am glad I fictionalized it. I do feel like I could write a memoir version of the story someday, maybe in essay form or something, but it is relieving to work on my other projects (for now) that have less of a direct tie to my life.

Is it strange, in talking about your work now that it’s out there, to navigate the boundaries between Mira’s life and your own? I could see it being both powerful to talk about and overly personal at the same time.

It is strange! Thanks for asking. The strangest part is telling strangers (ha) about my own father’s death from AIDS. That is obviously not essential when I am blurbing the book, but I somehow think it is and end up telling people the memoir part of it all the time. Definitely overly personal; I’m pretty sure I’ve weirded some people out. :-) But generally I’m not shy about “getting deep quick” and have a hard time with a lot of superficial conversation, so maybe the weirding people out part is fine—it is pretty true to me.

I like a lot of the significant characters in the book and (well, mostly) the ways they treat each other. Are there characters you particularly identify with, aside from Mira herself? Were some characters harder to write than others?

Hmmm . . . well, there were some characters that were cut that were hard for me to cut. Mira used to have another friend named Shay, and Adam’s mom used to be a significant character in the book. So, those two were not hard for me to write but they were hard for me to lose. Cutting them, though, made Mira more alone in her story as well as streamlining some subplots. I think the Mom’s character was the hardest to write because I was most concerned with my own mother and what she would think of this character. So, again, more personal issues getting in the way.

There’s a playfulness to Chloe’s character (who is an amalgam of my best female friends growing up) that I identify with and I think in some ways I was more like a combination of Chloe and Mira because I was a lot more social than Mira is. I love April — and I really love my real sister Julia :-) — and I feel like her openness is more similar to myself today but not to who I was in high school. I feel most connected to April and the dad’s character, and their characters did not really change much from early drafts. I had fun writing Dylan who is really an amalgam of all my male friends in high school; it was fun to spend time with them again.

Last month, when you came to our YA book club discussion of Home of the Brave, I loved the insights you presented about the verse novel form. Was Skyscraping always written in verse, or did that evolve along with the shift in genre?

Thank you! I love talking about the elusive verse novel form! It was always in verse. It’s because the memoir emerged from poems I had written about my family over the span of around fifteen years. I also think verse novels are the perfect form for stories that tackle difficult subject matter: the form leaves the reader with some space to process what is happening and the form highlights the emotional arc of the character which, in trying life situations, is really what matters the most I think.

The way you play with space on the page is beautiful and powerful. I love the full moon page, and the word cascade of “Stranded”. What was it like working with words and space like this? How does it change your sense of story to work on the form at the same time?

I LOVE playing with white space in the verse novel form. Melanie Crowder just wrote a terrific blog post about this. It actually includes my own analysis of the white space in “Stranded.” I like how working with white space feels like making art. You go beyond the words and create the relationship the words have to space and use the space to actually be a part of your poem. It is like creating composition when you are painting. Maybe it is also how a sculptor feels as she carves. This is something you can’t do nearly as much when you are writing a novel. And I do miss it when I am writing regular prose.

What were the sources of your space and flight and time imagery? Did you, as Mira did with the yearbook, try out other images for framing the story before finding this one?

What a great question, Jen! I actually did take astronomy my senior year of high school from a really talented teacher named Mr. Thompson. He was one of those teachers that the whole school sort of worshipped. When I first started writing the fictionalized draft of the memoir (originally titled “Sundialing”) I wrote original versions of the poems “Where Windows Are Stars” and “Something Stellar” and it was through writing these poems that I figured out I could carry this celestial imagery through the book.

The emphasis on time came from yearbook itself. I was also the yearbook editor my senior year and I wrote some version of the poem “Capturing Time” and I started to think about how interesting it was that I sort of chose to spend so much time in high school doing yearbook (something so nostalgic oriented) while my father had this ticking time clock and so did my high school career. I sort of built the whole story on the idea that “everything was ending at once.”

But to answer your question, no, there was only ever that image system. Though I think as it became revised I extended it naturally to include any kind of sky image, not just space and time. I like how this image system also works with Mira’s existential crisis. I also took philosophy my senior year of high school from a very skilled teacher and loved thinking about Existentialism in particular. Not going to lie, though, I do own the book Astronomy for Dummies. Here’s a blog post where I talk about creating an image system in a verse novel.

What kinds of research did you need to do to build your story and the world in which it takes place? There are lots of details about Manhattan in the '90s and about the growing awareness of HIV that clearly read like the living of it, and then there are lots of facts about the disease and the stars. Were you going mainly on things you already knew and remembered?

It is definitely a combination of remembering things and Googling! I also watched movies that take place in NYC in the early-mid nineties…like Home Alone 2 and Green Card. :-) Google is amazing: I could Google the whole Phish show playlist from the New Year's show, I watched Tom Hanks’s best actor speech for Philadelphia, I looked at movie releases throughout the year. The most research I did, though, was astronomy related. I bought some books (see confession above) and spent a lot of time looking at astronomy term definitions. I listened to all my music from that time and made a playlist. I also kept extensive diaries in high school which I re-read and had my own senior year yearbook by my side throughout the process.

I also researched natural remedies and HIV/AIDS facts from that time. And how certain sicknesses worked. This was hard for me. Because I was a teen and not really sure what was going with my own father medically throughout the years he was sick (my father was HIV Positive in 1986 and really very sick from 1992-1994) I had to go back and try to figure out more about the medical part of it. And then alter it to match the book’s own timeframe. I also am very indebted to my friend Jenna Conley for taking time to fact check the medical part of the book.

Along with your writing and teaching, you’ve been running wonderful writing workshops for kids at the bookstore, and with your students you’ve created the Mt. Airy Musers literary journal. I love seeing how enthusiastic the kids are! Do you have other current or upcoming projects you’d like to tell us about?

Thank you! It is so fun to work on this journal with such enthusiastic young writers and artists. We have our second issue coming out at the end of May and hoping to do a third next fall. Other than MAM and teaching creative writing workshops for kids, I will be teaching a Writing for Children & Young Adults class at Bryn Mawr College for the second time next spring. In terms of writing, I have two other completed manuscripts that will hopefully sell sometime soon and I am working on another WIP. I’ll keep you posted!

Excellent! And now for our "3 for 3" book questions:

1. What were 3 of your favorite books from childhood/teen years?

Betsy & Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace; Just As Long As We’re Together by Judy Blume; The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy

2. What are 3 books that you've read recently that surprised you?

Denton Little’s Death Date by Lance Rubin, because it’s a real laugh out loud comedy despite harrowing circumstances; The Cost of All Things by Maggie Lehrman because I really enjoyed the magical realism in this book and just the premise itself was, for no better word, COOL; None of the Above by I.W. Gregorio because the main character is SO relatable while being an intersex character.

3. What are 3 books that influence/d your work?

I would say e.e. cummings poetry had a profound effect on me when I was a teen, and I still think about the freedom he took with word play when I write; the first verse novels I read when I was writing my own helped me understand the form: Katherine Appelgate’s Home of the Brave was one of these as well as Kirsten Smith’s The Geography of Girlhood; I really am drawn to beautiful/sad stories like Jandy Nelson’s I’ll Give You the Sun or Karen Foxlee’s The Anatomy of Wings and I surround myself with the MOOD of these sort of books, carving a white space around me, as I write.

Thank you so much for joining us!

Thanks for having me, Jen. Such great questions!!!

Cordelia Jensen is a YA writer. She graduated in 2012 with a MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Cordelia graduated from Kenyon College where she majored in English, with a Concentration in Creative Writing. Cordelia was Poet Laureate of Perry County in 2006 & 2007. She has also had nonfiction work appear in Literary Mama. Cordelia has worked with young people for most of her career; with a Masters of Education in Counseling, she has worked as a counselor and teacher and spent ten summers as a camp counselor in Central PA. She teaches writing workshops for children at the Big Blue Marble and loves being surrounded by books and people who love stories and language. Cordelia lives in West Mt. Airy with her husband, Jon, and twin nine-year-olds, Tate and Lily.

Thanks for reading!!! If you're local to the area, please let the bookstore know if you would like to order a copy of Skyscraping. You can also come to Cordelia's Book Launch Party, Saturday, June 6, 7pm, offsite at local used bookstore Mt. Airy Read & Eat! If you can't make the party, you can email orders to orders [at] bigbluemarblebooks [dot] com, call (215) 844-1870, or come see us at 551 Carpenter Lane, in the Mt. Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia.

Jen's Six Exciting New YA Releases!

(Originally posted in the May 2015 Big Blue YA Newsletter.)

Skyscraping by our own Cordelia Jensen!
Join us at the book launch party:
Saturday, June 6, 7pm, at Mt. Airy Read & Eat!

In NYC in the 1990s, Mira deals with her father's new diagnosis and the way her image of her family has shifted and shattered.

Check out my interview with Cordelia!

 

Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman

Caden is on a ship, learning the ropes.  Or in his school, as his friends try to reach him.  Or someplace in between.  He's working on trust, and betrayal, and how to manage the images in his mind.

Painless by S.A. Harazin

David cannot feel pain.  His life has been carefully circumscribed to avoid danger ... and he's getting really, really tired of having all his decisions made by other people.  Perhaps it's time for some decisions -- and adventures -- of his own.

 
None of the Above by I.W. Gregorio

Kristin has been a perfectly ordinary, cis-gender, popular high school student -- until a gyn. exam reveals her XY chromosomes and intersex status.  And now everything has changed -- though she hasn't really changed at all.

See also Sarah's recent staff review on the blog!


Bayard Rustin: Invisible Activist by Jacqueline Houtman, Walter Naegle, and Michael G. Long

Fabulous event at the store two weeks ago for this important biography (written for middle grade and up) of a leader of the Civil Rights movement who went unrecognized because he was openly gay.  Rustin's (recent and posthumous) Presidential Medal of Freedom was right here at the store!

 
Bullied Kids Speak Out: We Survived--How You Can Too by Jodee Blanco

A series of powerful testaments from survivors of school (or community) bullying, with commentary from the author, who tours nationally speaking out about bullying and peer abuse.

Jennifer Sheffield, May 2015

None of the Above is EVERYTHING!

None of the Above by I.W. Gregario

I loved everything about reading this book. Something I talk a lot about in relation to (especially) queer/QUILTBAG lit is the way sometimes we sacrifice quality for representation. This is not the case with Gregorio's excellent writing. The author's follow up does a great job in explaining the choices made by the main character and why Kristen makes the choices she does. 

More impressively, the book is well researched and respectful of the diversity of intersex experience. I was concerned that because there are so few intersex characters in contemporary (and especially contemporary YA) lit, that this book might make broad, sweeping gestures about the intersex community. Not at all. In fact, Gregorio goes out of the way to talk about how Kristen's experiences are NOT universal and that there are many different ways in which people relate to their gender. 

I'm missing the most important part here: It's a great freaking book. It's well written and charming and infinitely relatable and the world is a better place for the publication of this rad story.

If you read one book this month ...

A Little Life by Hanya Yanigahara ($30, Doubleday)

I don't even know what to say. I loved reading this book so much that I found myself alternately rationing myself out and binging on Yanagihara's beautiful prose. I loved each of the characters so much. They're all really well written and complex. 

I know that this is meant to be a story about four friends, but let's be real: It's Jude. The rest of the characters are told in reference to his character and the slow unraveling of his story. His traumas are horrific, and the scars and lasting injuries they leave him with are significant. But the most brutal part of the things he has lived through is actually the way he has internalized these events. (As a trauma survivor, some of this was uncomfortably familiar to read.) 

The parts that wrecked me most though, were the parts in which the characters reveled their hope and their infinite capacity for love. I feel like i should buy a stack of copies and give them out as gifts. Easily one of the best things I've read this year.

Big Blue Marble's Picks for Children's Book Week (May 4-10, 2015)

It's Children's Book Week! And so we offer you new and treasured book recommendations, from picture books to young adult, from graphic novels to verse novels. Read over our lists below, and come in and check out our offerings!

Among our own events this week are Shabbat Storytime on Friday morning, and an author reading Thursday night for Bayard Rustin: The Invisible Activist (ages 10 and up).

Check out the CBW website for national events and activities for kids of all ages.

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From Elliott:

One Tiny Turtle by Nicola Davies (Candlewick, $6.99)

This Book Just Ate My Dog by Richard Byrne (Henry Holt, $16.95)

Library Lion by Michelle Knudson (Candlewick, $6.99)

17 Things I'm Not Allowed to Do Anymore by Jenny Offill (Dragonfly Books, $6.99)

Me, All Alone, at the End of the World by M.T. Anderson (Candlewick, $16.99)

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From Janet:

Before After by Anne-Margot Ramstein and Matthias Arégui (Candlewick, $19.99)

Journey and Quest by Aaron Becker (Candlewick, $15.99)

Three Questions by John Muth (Scholastic, $17.99)

Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans by Kadir Nelson (HarperCollins, $8.99/$19.99)

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From Jen:

Julia's House for Lost Creatures by Ben Hatke (First Second, $17.99)

If I Had a Raptor and If I Had a Triceratops by George O'Connor (Candlewick, $15.99)

Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman (HarperCollins, $17.99)

Skyscraping by Cordelia Jensen (Penguin, $17.99) -- coming in June!

The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex (Little, Brown, $7.99)

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From Mariga:

Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak (HarperCollins, $8.99)

El Deafo, Cece Bell (Abrams, $10.95)

The Brides of Rollrock Island, Margo Lanagan (Ember, $9.99)

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From Micah (age 4):

Red: A Crayon's Story by Michael Hall (HarperCollins, $17.99)

The Book With No Pictures by B.J. Novak (Penguin Random House, $17.99)

Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker (Chronicle, $16.99)

Where Do Diggers Sleep at Night? by Brianna Caplan Sayres (Random House, $7.99)

Digger, Dozer, Dumper by Hope Vestergaard and David Slonim (Random House, $15.99)

Splat the Cat by Rob Scotton (Harpercollins, $16.99)

Splash by Ann Jonas (Harpercollins, $6.99)

I Have a Garden and I Planted Cheddarbunnies ...oh, okay, that hasn't been published yet.

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From Nif:

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell (St. Martins Griffin, $18.99)

Penderwicks in Spring Jeanne Birdsall (Random House, $16.99)

Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne Valente (Square Fish, $7.99)

Sleepover with Beatrice & Bear by Mônica Carnesi (Penguin, $15.99)

The Martian by Andy Weir (Random House, $15.00)

Farmer and the Clown by Marla Frazee (Simon & Schuster, $17.99)

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From Sarah:

Lumberjanes Volume 1 by Noelle Stevenson and Grace Ellis (Boom!, $14.99)

The Adventures of Beekle, The Unimaginary Friend by Dan Santant (Little, Brown, $17.00)

Julia's House for Lost Creatures by Ben Hatke (First Second, $17.99)

Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty (Abrams, $16.95)

Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke (Scholastic, $8.99)

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From Sheila:

Dreamhunter by Elizabeth Knox (Square Fish, $8.99)

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman (Random House, $10.99)

Sabriel by Garth Nix (HarperCollins, $9.99)

Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede (Scholastic, $9.99)

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner (HarperCollins, $6.99)

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From Tiara:

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic, $12.99/$10.99)

Other HP favorites: The Prisoner of Azkaban and The Order of the Phoenix

Paper Towns by John Green (Speak, $9.99)

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett (Atheneum, $6.99)

A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara (Seven Stories Press, $9.99)

Five Books Janet Wants to Own This Spring

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce (Random House, $15.00)
Harold Frye receives a letter from Miss Queenie, who he has not heard from since they worked together more than twenty years ago. She is in a hospice on the northern tip of England. Harold is convinced that walking the length of England will keep her alive.

The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy by Rachel Joyce (Random House $25.00)
Waiting for Harold, Miss Queenie "writes" her story, revealing the secrets and the shame that have created the distances between her and her life.

Small Space Container Gardens by Fern Richardson (Timber Press, $19.95)
Even a tiny house with a postage size yard can be made into an alluring site of colors, smells, and edibles.

Before After by Anne-Margot Ramstein (Candlewick Press, $19.99)
This is a children's book so beautifully and simply illustrated that it belongs out on the coffee table. An egg becomes a chicken. A caterpillar becomes a butterfly. A calf becomes a cow, and what else?

Poems to Learn by Heart, compiled by Caroline Kennedy with paintings by Jon J. Muth (Hyperion Books, $19.99)
A collection of classic poetry for children, beautifully illustrated with Jon Muth's watercolor paintings.

Janet Elfant, April 2015

Mt. Airy Kids' Literary Festival 2015 -- April 23-26

The 9th Annual Mt. Airy Kids' Literary Festival -- four days of authors, illustrators, games, parades, parties, music, and more -- begins tonight, Thursday, April 23!

Schedule and event information:
- Festival schedule on our website (and summarized below).
- Facebook festival event page.
- Link to the bookstore's listing of events on Facebook, which includes most (though not all) of the festival's individual events.
- Link to our most recent events newsletter.

Interviews here on the blog with two of the attending authors:
- Amy Ignatow, author of The Popularity Papers
- Elisa Ludwig, author of Pretty Crooked.


Festival Schedule Summary:

All Weekend

Special Door Prizes! Winners will be randomly selected throughout the entire weekend to win free books, promotional goodies, and more. Stop by with your family and get a chance to go home with all kinds of special treats.

Thursday, April 23

7:00pm - Big Blue Young Adult Book Discussion with Jen Sheffield.
An open discussion group for adults who read YA and teens who like to talk about books.
April's book: the verse novel Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate.
We'll be joined by a special guest, former staffer and Writer-in-Residence Cordelia Jensen, whose own YA verse novel, Skyscraping, will be coming out at the beginning of June!

Friday, April 24

11:00am - Festival Storytime. Led by Monique Curry, author of In My Eyes.
(Ages infant-4)

6:30pm - Family Book Party! Music with Ecoman, pizza, fun and games, and bedtime stories!
(All ages)

Saturday, April 25

11:00am - Picture Book Celebration.
(Ages 2-6)

• Monica Carnesi, author of Sleepover with Beatrice and Bear
• Polly Kanevsky, author of Here is the Baby, Sleepy Boy
• Valerie Lang, author of Andy Takes Action

1:00pm - Middle Grade Author Panel.
A free-ranging discussion of middle-grade books and audiences!
(Ages 8-12)

• Amy Ignatow, author of The Popularity Papers
• Andy Myer, author of Henry Hubble's Book of Troubles

2:00pm - Mad Lib Treasure Hunt!
Led by Cordelia Jensen and kids from the Mt. Airy Musers writing community.
(Ages 8 and up)

3:00pm - Same Family, Different Colors. Join Tanya Hutchins, author of Born Beautiful Biracial: A Compilation of Children's Essays, and Mt. Airy author Lori Tharps, creator of ?RU! t-shirts (for sale in the bookstore!), as they lead a discussion with kids and parents on living in multi-racial families and answering the question "What are you?"
(Ages 6 and up)

7:00pm - Harry Potter Trivia Contest! Bring It On, Wizards and Muggles!
(Ages 8 and up)

Sunday, April 26

10:30am - Music with EcoMan.
(Ages 2-6)

11:00am - Picture Books!
(Ages 3-8)

• Artie Bennett, author of Belches, Burps, and Farts - Oh My!
• Nancy Viau, author of City Street Beat
• Alison Ashley Formento, author of These Rocks Count
• Jonathan Needham, author of Meet My Fantastic Friend Floyd

1:00pm - Magical Creature Costume Parade for Kids, Adults, and Pets.

1:00pm - The YA World, featuring six young adult authors!
(Ages 12 and up)

• Heather Anne, author of Escaping Wonderland
• Elisa Ludwig, author of Pretty Crooked Trilogy
• April Lidner, author of Love, Lucy
• Mya Kay, author of A Song for Jordan
• Victoria Leese, author of Invisible Stardom
• Alison Ashley Formento, author of Twigs

Hope to see you this weekend!

Novel Journals!

Are you an aspiring writer? Having trouble getting started? Need inspiration? Then you need A Novel Journal! Big Blue Marble Bookstore has a variety of these marvelous journals, where the blank pages are actually lined (in tiny text) with lines from famous novels. Write between the lines of Jane Austen or Charles Dickens, absorb the genius of Charlotte Bronte as you journal your thoughts and dreams!

Each journal is a different novel. Don't see your favorite author? We can order it! Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, the brothers Grimm all await your pen.

A Month Full of Events for National Poetry Month!

Along with our 2nd annual Peeps Diorama Contest, which provided much hilarity and thought, and our 9th annual Mt. Airy Kids' Literary Festival later in the month, we have LOTS of poetry events for you this April. For more details on the events below, visit our website's Events page.

Updated: April 14, 2015.

Wednesday, April 1, 7:00pm.       National Poetry Month Event
Three Humorous Poets on April Fool's Day.
Hal Sirowitz, Amy Barone, and Ron Kolm, all known for injecting humor and candor into their poetry and story-telling, will entertain guests at the Big Blue Marble Bookstore on April 1.

Wednesday, April 8, 7:00pm.       National Poetry Month Event
Red Dashboard Press Reading Series.
Elizabeth Aiken Stelling, editor of Red Dashboard Press, brings friends Marion Deutsche Cohen and Barry Gross for a great evening of poetry to Big Blue Marble.

Thursday, April 9, 7:00pm.       National Poetry Month Event
The Women's Writing & Spoken Word Series presents Michele Belluomini (originally scheduled for January).
The Women's Writing & Spoken Word Series (Est. 2002) is a nurturing environment that celebrates women in the craft of multi-genre writing.

Friday, April 10, 7:00pm.       National Poetry Month Event
Back to Its Roots: Poetry as Music with the bands Words In Flight, SHEEP, and Attractive Nuisance.
Join us as we welcome three area acoustic bands driven by the power of poetical lyrics.

Sunday, April 12, 11:00am.       National Poetry Month Event
Publishing for Poets.
In this 2 hour workshop, Elliott will introduce you to the world of poetry publications. Preregistration required.

Thursday, April 16, 7:00-9:00pm. ***Date change from April 9.***
The Art of Craft: A series of craft classes for poets, poetry fans, and writing teachers.
First of six sessions, though you can sign up for them separately.

Thursday, April 16, 7:00pm.       National Poetry Month Event
Poetry with Elvis Alves & Bernadette McBride.
Join us for an evening of two, very different, rich poetic voices. Elvis Alves just moved to the Philadelphia area from Brooklyn; Bernadette McBride is the director of the Poets Reading Series at Farley's, our sister independent Bookshop in New Hope, PA.

Friday, April 17, 7:00pm.       National Poetry Month Event
Earthly Rituals: Women in Celebration of and Dialogue with Earth.
In honor of both Poetry Month and Earth Day, five area poets, Hila Ratzabi, Therese Halscheid, Amy Small-McKinney, Alison Hicks, and Catherine Bancroft, will be reading work about the earth and its myriad representations: from myth and ritual to observation and witness.

Saturday, April 18, 4:00pm.       National Poetry Month Event
Book launch with Barbara Crooker for her two new books, Small Rain and Selected Poems .

Saturday, April 18, 7:00pm.       National Poetry Month Event
Book & Arts Press Reading with Liz Chang, Helen Mirkel, and Amy Small-McKinney.

Sunday, April 19, 4:00pm.       National Poetry Month Event
Four Poets: Facets of Their Jewish Journeys, with B.E. Kahn, Hal Sirowitz, Hila Ratzabi, and Cathleen Cohen.

Thursday, April 23, 7:00pm.       National Poetry Month Event
Big Blue Young Adult Book Discussion with Jen Sheffield.
Opening event of the Kids' Literary Festival! An open discussion group for adults who read YA and teens who like to talk about books. April's book: The verse novel Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate.

Wednesday, April 29, 7:00pm.       National Poetry Month Event
Poetry Liberation Front with Sekai, Jennifer Hook, Fran Gilmore, Janet Fishman, Alina Macneal, and Cassie MacDonald.

Thursday, April 30, all day!       National Poetry Month Event
Poem in Your Pocket Day.
It's national Poem in Your Pocket Day! Come read us a poem from your pocket (or recite a poem from your head) and get 10% off an item. Don't have a poem? Visit our handy poetry vending machine! You also have the option of standing before our big open window on the second floor and declaiming your favorite poem to the store at large.

Friday, May 1, 7:15pm.       National Poetry Month Event
Poetry Aloud & Alive. Featured reader: Megan Gillespie.
Everyone's favorite neighborhood poetry gathering. Hosted by local poet Mike Cohen, with a featured reader and an open reading to follow. For more information, please contact the Mad Poets Society.

Micah's Favorite Books About the Natural World (according to Jen, his mom)

About Birds: A Guide for Children by Cathryn Sill, illustrated by John Sill (Peachtree Press, $7.95)
Brief narrative phrases (with more details at the end) illuminated with gorgeous wildlife paintings.
Also in Micah's collection: About Insects and About Mammals.

Red-Eyed Tree Frog by Joy Cowley, photographs by Nic Bishop (Scholastic, $6.99)
The story of a night in the life of a red-eyed tree frog, accompanied by Nic Bishop's amazing photographs.
Also in Micah's collection: Chameleon, Chameleon.

Gotta Go! Gotta Go! by Sam Swope, pictures by Sue Riddle (Square Fish, $7.99)
A brand new monarch caterpillar doesn't know much about her world yet, but she knows she's gotta go, gotta go to Mexico!

Jo MacDonald Had a Garden by Mary Quattlebaum, illustrated by Laura J. Bryant (Dawn Publications, $7.95 board book, $8.95 paperback)
Just in time for spring! Accompanied by a familiar tune, Jo and her friend plant and tend a garden while her grandfather looks on.
(See Cordelia's interview with Mary Quattlebaum elsewhere on the blog.)
Also in Micah's collection: Jo MacDonald Hiked in the Woods

Yes, Let's! by Galen Goodwin Longstreth & Maris Wicks (Tanglewood Press, $15.95)
More hiking! A family of seven (including the dog) get up early to head out to the woods.
(See Jen's interview with Galen Longstreth elsewhere on the blog.)

Also, a classic:
Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey (Puffin, $7.99)
Kuplink, kuplank, kuplunk.

Jennifer Sheffield, March 2015

Micah's Favorite Books That Break the 4th Wall (according to Nif, his mum)

The Book With No Pictures by B.J. Novak (Penguin Random House, $17.99)
You might think that a book with no pictures is going to be serious and boring. Instead, this is a book that makes grownups say silly things, like "BLORK" and "BLUEBERRY PIZZA," whether or not they want to. Gales of laughter ensue. Micah has memorized both the silly things and the muttered asides.

Press Here by Hervé Tullet (Chronicle Books $15.99)
It begins with a lone yellow dot. We are invited to "Press here," and hey! there are more dots when you turn the page. Follow the instructions, and on the next page the dots will multiply, change color, move, grow, and more. Magical.

We Are In a Book! by Mo Willems (Disney Press $8.99)
Elephant and Piggie notice that someone is looking at them and hatch a plan to make the reader say something silly. Mo Willems' Elephant & Piggie books are generally brillant read-alouds, but this is one of the best.

Speaking of Mo Willems, check out the Pigeon books!
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus (Disney Press, $15.99)
The Pigeon Wants a Puppy (Disney Press, $15.99)
Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late (Disney Press, $15.99)
The Pigeon Needs a Bath (Disney Press, $16.99)
The Pigeon directly exhorts the reader via charm, trickery, begging, or just plain pitching a fit in an attempt to drive the bus, get a puppy, stay up late, or avoid a bath. I rather enjoy acting out the wiles and temper tantrums. My son knows to duck when I start flailing!

The Monster at the End of This Book (Golden Books, $3.99)
Our loveable, furry old pal Grover begs the reader to stop turning pages because there is A MONSTER at the end of the book. Oh, no! You turned the page!

Jennifer Woodfin, March 2015

HERE is here!

Here is the stunning, new graphic novel from author Richard McGuire. It is the story of the corner of one room in one house, illustrated in overlapping pictures and prose. A masterwork that is difficult to describe, it is not told in linear fashion but through a collage of different eras and dialogue, revealing the passage of time moving both backward and forward. Thought provoking and ingenious, Here is a masterpiece of art and storytelling.

Take Away the A

Looking for an unusual alphabet book? Tired of "a is for apple"? Then Take Away the A is the fun, refreshing alphabet book you're looking for!

At once playful and thought provoking, this picture book teaches the alphabet while at the same time demonstrating how one small alteration elicits a big change.

Almost existential in scope and gorgeously illustrated, Take Away the A is one of those picture books that captivate children and adults alike. Come in to Big Blue Marble Bookstore and purchase your copy today!

"Without the I, stairs lead to the stars..."

The Irish are coming!

What do Colm Toibin, Tana French, and Eoin Colfer all have in common? They're Irish! The month of March is upon us and St. Patrick's Day is imminent. In honor of the upcoming holiday, come on in to Big Blue Marble Bookstore and browse our display of marvelous Irish authors.

In the mood for a ghost story? Then John Boyne's This House is Haunted is the novel for you. Want a good read about the Irish immigrant experience? Pick up a copy of On Canaan's Side by Sebastian Barry.

And there's lots more! Stop by the Marble today where our staff will be happy to discuss our selection with you.

The Antidote to Downton Abbey Withdrawal

The Downton Abbey season finale is upon us! What will we do? How shall we spend our Sunday nights without the Crawleys? Never fear! Big Blue Marble Bookstore has the antidote to Downton Abbey withdrawal. Stop by the store for your copy of Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey, the biography of a former Countess of Carnavon.

Wait! There's more! Big Blue Marble also carries Lady Catherine, the Earl, and the Real Downton Abbey, the biography of a mid-twentieth century Countess of Carnavon.

Almina and Catherine were both Americans who married into the aristocratic Herbert family. While navigating their way through the labyrinthine customs of the British upper class and enjoying the wealth and privileges it brought them, both women also weathered the wrenching changes of two world wars.

Decomposition Books

Are you a dreamer? Contemplative? Introspective? A compulsive list-keeper? Then we have the perfect blank journal for you! Want to jot down those ideas for a novel? Record your poetic musings? Then may we recommend Decomposition Books, produced by Michael Roger Press. Made from 100% recycled paper, Decomposition Books are perfect for the ecologically conscious, aspiring writer. With a variety of colorful and whimsical varieties to choose from, Decomposition Books are also available in spiral bound.

Raccoons and Foxes and Cats, Oh My! And Ants!

Behold Mort(e), the fearsome cat warrior who fights across a dystopian landscape where pets have risen against their masters and ants rule the world! The novel begs the question, what is good? Who is evil? Are the dictatorial ants truly better than the humans with their germ warfare? The first print-run is already sold out! Order your copy today! Another exciting publication from Soho Press!

Mort(e), by Robert Repino, a featured novel in February's Indie Next List.

Five Books That Make Jen Grateful for Modern Medicine

During the growing outbreak of measles in Southern California and environs, it becomes ever more clear that lots of people, including doctors, have never seen measles before and are not familiar with its presentation or its dangerous complications -- as is true of many diseases that used to plague our forebears. Here are five books (plus a few more) that provide a powerful and close-up view of some illnesses that, due to vaccines or antibiotics, no longer scare us the way they once did.

polio:
Fleabrain Loves Franny by Joanne Rocklin (Abrams, $16.95)
This new release is the story of ten-year-old Franny, who is relearning to navigate her world, both physically and socially, after contracting polio -- while living in the neighborhood of Pittsburgh where Dr. Jonas Salk is working hard on what Franny hopes is a cure. Alternate point of view (and some diversion for Franny) provided by Fleabrain, a flea with literary aspirations who lives on her dog's tail.

yellow fever:
Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson (Simon & Schuster, $7.99)
A story of the eponymous yellow fever epidemic, which took place in Philadelphia. Follows 14-year-old Mattie Cook through her family's attempt to flee the fever, only to return and deal with it in a city that is falling into chaos. Includes a fascinating look at competing types of care, as physicians grasp for ways to contain the epidemic. About a week after I read the book I found myself walking in Washington Square, where, I had just learned, mass graves accumulated during the epidemic. It felt suddenly very different, walking on history...

influenza:
Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell (Ballantine, $15.00)
This book is not about influenza; it's a historical novel about the politics of the Middle East in the 1920s, with Lawrence of Arabia and Gertrude Bell as featured characters. However, it starts by vividly framing the Roaring Twenties in the United States as a rebound from the horrors of death -- not just after World War One but also after the 'flu epidemic of 1918-1919 that ran rampant through otherwise healthy populations and devastated entire families and communities.

measles:
Pippi in the South Seas by Astrid Lindgren (Puffin, $5.99)
I hadn't reread the third Pippi book in a long time, so I was surprised to discover recently that her friends Annika and Tommy both come down with the measles, which confines them to bed for weeks and leaves them pale and shaky for a long time afterward. (Caution: this book, more than the others in the series, is predicated on a strongly colonialist view of the south sea islands.)

scarlet fever:
All of a Kind Family by Sydney Taylor (Yearling, $6.99)
A wonderful tale of life on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1911. Scarlet fever shows up just before Passover, and the house is quarantined for the duration. (I was originally going to feature By the Shores of Silver Lake here, since the effects are more dramatic, but it turns out that Mary Ingalls' blindness was likely caused by something quite different, such as viral meningoencephalitis. Scarlet fever does not cause blindness.)

Runners-up:
influenza and black death:
The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis (Spectra, $7.99)
malaria ("fever 'n' ague"):
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder (HarperCollins, $6.99 or $8.99)
scarlet fever again:
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (Penguin, $3.95)
pertussis:
I'm fairly certain that I once read a book in which someone has whooping cough. On a train, maybe? Does anyone have any idea what book this is? Please let me know!

Jennifer Sheffield, January 2015

Sarah's Five Favorite Children's Read-Aloud Stories

The Book With No Pictures by B.J. Novak (Dial, $17.99)
This book, which is gorgeous despite its lack of pictures, never fails to make even the most serious little folks laugh. (I dare you to read it without laughing yourself.)

Press Here by Herve Tullet (Chronicle, $15.99)
This is more of a one-on-one read. Press Here encourages small readers to press pages, shake dots to one side, and more. If the interactivity weren't enough, it's also visually stunning.

The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Suess (Random House 8.99)
Thing 1 and Thing 2 are the best parts of this book, obviously. The rhythm of the words makes memorization fun and easy. Dr. Suess has written so many beloved books, but none more so than this one.

The Pigeon Needs a Bath by Mo Willems (Disney, $16.99)
I chose this book as a close second to the Elephant and Piggie books because they're all so fun and they prompt a call-and-response from your tiny audience. And, yeah, because sometimes bathtime is hard.

Curious George by H.A. Rey (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 7.99)
What will that cheeky monkey get up to next?

Sarah Rose, January 2015