Book Scoop: Post-Tour Wrap-Up
Remember a couple weeks ago, when I posted that I installed the WordPress app on my iPad so I could blog while I was away?
Oops.
I meant to post, truly I did. The trip was just a crazy-fabulous whirlwind, and when I wasn't doing author appearances, I was either running a marathon, hanging with my family, or falling asleep completely exhausted.
So, um… no posts for awhile.
But now I'm back! Got home in time to see yet another hideous Eagles fourth-quarter collapse, rested up, and woke at 5am thanks to jet lag — a great thing, since it gives me time to post. I have a zillion things to share, but I'll start with a rundown of the author appearances. I was going to do them all right now, but I think that would run far too long. Instead, maybe I'll make this week all Book Scoop posts and separate them out.
We start with…
Tuesday, November 8th, 2011, 7pm
Children's Book World, Haverford, PA
I LOVE THIS BOOKSTORE!!!
Granted, I fell in love with lots of bookstores on the east coast whirlwind, but Children's Book World scored extra points because:
They're my hometown indie bookstore.
I developed a total girl-crush on Heather, one of the staff members, to the point where I totally want to hang with her when she visits L.A.
Heather served a giant tray of Philly soft pretzels… with chocolate dipping sauce.
I spent my entire childhood in Philly. I sucked down soft pretzels like they were ambrosia (food-of-the-gods ambrosia, not that-weird-canned-fruit-coconut-cool-whip-thing-my-mom-made ambrosia), and never once did it even cross my mind to dip them in chocolate.
Oh. My. God.
Forget dipping french fries in milkshake; if I were writing Populazzi now, Cara would be dipping soft pretzels in chocolate sauce.
This was the most casual of all the appearances — more a small party than book signing — and every one of us there went on a book-buying spree, grabbing up not just copies of Populazzi, but all kinds of others as well. It was impossible not to — the store is laid out so vibrantly, Heather is so knowledgeable, and the chocolate-dipped pretzels were so intoxicating, we couldn't help ourselves. I grabbed books by Dav Pilkey and Jon Scieszka for Miss M; my friend Brian snagged Heather-recommended chapter books for his nieces; the ten-year-old daughter of another friend got an American Girl book-and-stuffed-dog combo… there was something for everyone.
Some more delicious tidbits from the evening:
Children's Book World rocks so hard, they've had J.K. Rowling there for a book signing. Uh-huh — that's like the kid-lit equivalent of a Papal blessing.
~
The store is usually not open in the evenings; if they do open their doors, it's for an event. This makes things particularly cozy and lovely, since 90% of the people who walk through the door have gone out of their way to come specifically to the event.
~
Along with J.K. Rowling, their long list of Authors Who Have Darkened Their Doors includes two more whom I worship, one from afar and one I'm proud to call a friend: Laurie Halse Anderson and Matthew Quick.
And a final interesting fact — as the evening wound down, I signed stock (so if you want a signed copy of Populazzi and you're in PA, go to Children's Book World!!!!). Heather gave me a stack, and when it was done I turned to the wall behind me, on which ten more copies were displayed.
"Should I sign those too?" I asked.
No, Heather said, those were for school book fairs.
Turns out in the past, the store has sent author-signed copies of books to school book fairs, and the books were shunned. Not only did the non-personalized author-signature not add value for the book fair shopper, it was a detriment — the signed book had been written in, was therefore marred, and didn't sell. Pretty fascinating, right?
There you have it: the first stop on the Elise Goes East Tour, my official new favorite home town indie book store (Children's Book World), and official new favorite home town snack (Philly soft pretzels dipped in chocolate). Which of course leads me to a question — two questions, in fact:
What's your favorite home town indie bookstore and why?
What's your favorite home-town-specific snack?
Can't wait to hear, and I'll share more east coast tidbits tomorrow!!!
