Books Inc. Kids Blog

With our upcoming event with Tony Fucile, we couldn't help but be reminded of an awesome book that came out more than 40 years ago that's as good today as it was then: The Iron Giant by Ted Hughes. It was originally titled The Iron Man: A Story in 5 Nights, but the title was changed when the superhero superceded Hughes' novel in popularity. There's movie (that upcoming guest Tony Fucile worked on), which is AMAZING and every one should watch it, but is totally different than the book. And even if you've seen the movie (which I agree, is awesome) you should still read the book and hopefully you'll like it even a fraction as much we do. Fun, simple, full of startling and direct symbolic imagery, The Iron Giant is a great book for reluctant readers obsessed with Star Wars and the kids who can already read Harry Potter (with a parent) ages 7-10. Hughes, who was the poet laureate of the UK for many years, adeptly utilizes gorgeous visual metaphors that are accessbile to kids, but with room for growth. It's one of those books that will grow up with the child as thier reading skills develop and mature, and as such makes this a great book for parents and kids to read together and discuss. It was written especially to be read one chapter a night over five nights, making it the perfect story to read before bed.

Libba, Meg and Maggie will be signing as many SCHOLASTIC
PUBLISHED books PURCHASED AT BOOKS INC. as you
like. However, outside of that, they will only sign 2
non-Scholastic books per customer. Books must be purchased at
a Books Inc. location. The ladies will only be signing books, so
NO memorabilia and this includes but is not limited to: teeshirts,
scraps of paper, coffee mugs, your cousin’s favorite bra,
Kindles, Nooks, posters, buttons, promotional items or your hairless
cat. Your place in the signing line is determined by the
signing group designated on your ticket (just like Southwest Airlines)
so if you are in group A, you will be in the first group,
Group B, you will be in the second group, and so on.

 

Don't worry, you look awesome, or quizzical (maybe?) with your head all sideways like that. But documented here is Susane's first taste of a Kara's cupcake. And no big deal, but we were right: Kara's is LEGIT. Susane made the excellent point that she hasn't had the Sprinkles carrot cake cupcake lately. So once she's done being on tour, she's going to have to do some follow-up taste-testing and let us know once and for all: Kara's or Sprinkles?

It's true. Susane takes cupcakes so seriously, in fact, that when one of her guests was spotted holding a Kara's Cupcakes box she immediately needed to know: is Kara's BETTER than Sprinkles? Being that Susane is from New York (the other Cupcake Capital of the U.S.) and that she missed the launch of the new Sprinkles cupcake shop in her home town, she was thrilled to find that there was a Sprinkles right by our Palo Alto store. But being that we here at Not Your Mother's Bookclub ALSO take cupcakes super seriously, and often provide Kara's Cupcakes at our events (or Susie Cakes, both deeeelicious) we felt the need to host our first EVER field trip for our first ever CUPCAKE THROW-DOWN OF DEATH. (fine, there was no death, but there was cake, and given the choice between cake or death, we here at NYMBC always choose cake. Obviously.)

We were lucky enough to host Jeanne Birdsall at our Laurel Village store for the launch of her newest book, The Penderwicks at Point Mouette. We had an awesome turnout of adoring fans, all of whom had many questions about the origins of Jeanne's unique and lovable characters. Here, Jeanne talks about the Nick, a character she based on a real person, who is now serving in Afghanistan. At the end of the event we were all invited to write a letter to Nick and his fellow soldiers so that he would know our thoughts and best wishes were with him.