Upcoming Events at Chapters

I just updated our calendar, with all the upcoming events for this fall.  It's going to be a busy season at Chapters!  Make sure to check back often so you don't miss these and other events this fall.

In September, the annual Plum Creek Children's Literacy Festival brings several well-known authors to Seward's Concordia University.  If you purchase these authors' books at Chapters, we'll have them autographed for you when the authors are in town.  This year's featured guests include Newbery Medal winner Grace Lin, Golden Sower winner Roland Smith, and favorite author/illustrator of the "Five Little Monkeys" books, Eileen Christelow, as well as Barbara Robinson, best known for The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.  The Endowment dinner features illustrator Jerry Pinkney, a recent Caldecott Medal winner.  Visit the Festival's website for more details and to see a complete list of authors and illustrators attending.

October will be a busy month for us, with two author visits (so far!) and two bookfairs, as well as the annual "Read for the Record Day."

One of last year's happy readers.

This year's "Read for the Record" is October 6.  Help us join families around the country to set a world record for the largest single-day read aloud of the same book by reading Llama Llama Red Pajama at Chapters with your favorite kids.  The first 25 families to participate will receive a free copy of the book, too!  For more details on this campaign and other efforts by Jumpstart to bring books to all children, visit Jumpstart's website.

Our authors who are visiting Chapters in October include a dynamic, fun picture book author-illustrator whose books will appeal to preschoolers with an attitude.  Robert Shea kicks off our week of bookfairs with a storytime and signing Thursday, October 13.  This is sure to be a "roaring" good time with Dinosaur and his creator!

Sara Zarr, author of young adult novels dealing with the difficult issues faced by teens, will be in Seward visiting Seward High School and Chapters on Monday, October 24.  She also is a great speaker, though for a different audience, and you won't want to miss her reading or her books.  I'll let you know what I think of her latest, How to Save a Life, which comes out in October and is set in part in Omaha, after I read the review copy she's sending me.

Curious George at the County Fair

We just had a wonderfully fun afternoon at the Seward County Fair with Curious George, his friend Hailey in the yellow hat, "Teacher Karen" Hoger, and about 40 kids who love George.  Thanks so much to everyone who came, and especially to Karen and Hailey for helping George.  

Since it was such a gorgeous day--unusually cool for August in Nebraska--George took a drive around town before heading to the fairgrounds. 

Japanese Erasers

I try to keep up on the current toy store fads; since we opened seven years ago, those have included things like Webkinz and Silly Bandz.  Now, the next big thing seems to be Japanese puzzle erasers--and we have the original ones!

They're only $1.17 each, and they come in cute food and animal shapes.  Kids seem to like the animals, adults to prefer the food, and I wonder what that says about us. . . .  The kids like to buy more than one of the same animal, in different colors, and then mix and match the puzzle pieces.  I think they'll be fun back to school items that might not be banned as quickly as Silly Bandz were!  Stop in to check them out.  They really are cute!