Signings in Seward

This morning I realized that I hadn't posted anything about our busy weekend of author signings, so here's an update.

Friday morning Christianna Reinhardt stopped by on her way to California to sign some presold copies of her book, A Culinary History of the Nebraska Sand Hills. She's a Food Network, Travel Channel, etc. producer and has worked with many big-name chefs. . . . and she owns a former Carnegie library building in Burwell, Nebraska. When I asked how she came to own property in the middle of nowhere, she said she had family connections to the area. It was fun to meet her and her sister, and the book would make a great gift for anyone who knows and appreciates the beauty of our sand hills--or of good down-home cooking, or knows someone who might be mentioned in the book. I think we even have one or two autographed copies left, but they're going fast.

Saturday's local author event featuring Echo Ardour, Laine Boyd, and Kathleen Itzen was a success all around. All three authors were experiencing their first signing, and all three sold several books. The stories behind their books were inspiring, and the audience was attentive, and the chocolates Laine brought from St. Louis were almost as good as our Baker's candies. We wish Kathleen continued good health and a good prognosis after her recent surgery. Thanks to everyone who made this event so much fun, especially to Kathy and Ellen for bringing your moms. I loved seeing them and hearing their bowling stories!

A visit to the Seward Memorial Library by New York Times Bestselling author Melanie Benjamin capped off the weekend  nicely. She told her very entertaining story of overcoming the dismal sales of her first published novel by writing and writing and writing some more until she hit on the secret to success--she wrote a good book that people wanted to read, and then she wrote a couple more. Now she's so successful that she can't even tell us who the subject of her next book is. We have a couple of signed copies of The Aviator's Wife left from Sunday's event. Read it if you haven't!

The Plum Creek Children's Literacy Festival is just around the corner now. Hopefully a few of the featured authors will stop by Chapters while they're in town. If so, we'll post their photos and have them sign a few books.

Happy reading everyone!

September Second Saturday Signing (Say that three times fast!)

September's Second Saturday Signing at Chapters brings three authors with Nebraska connections to Seward for a signing and reading event from 1:00-3:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 13.

At our event, you'll meet Echo Ardour, Laine Boyd, and Kathleen Itzen.

                                     

Echo Ardour, pen name for Sumerlyn Daywitt, is the author of Sorrow’s Gift, an inspirational story of "healing, unknown possibilities and intrigue, all wrapped in the hand of a God who always knows what is best." Sumerlyn participates in Chapters' newly-formed writers' group, has a degree from Concordia, and lives and works here in Seward.

Laine Boyd is a freelance editor for Ballad Publishing, where she  works with another local author, CaSondra Poulsen. Her debut thriller Unharmonious will be released September 1.  Learn more about her from this interview on CaSondra's blog,

Kathleen Itzen lives in Cordova, Nebraska, and was an elementary school teacher for many years. While working on her PhD., she became interested in the individual uniqueness of each person. Her book Wonderfully Made incorporates research in multiple intelligences, brain research, and personality styles to encourage readers to value themselves and others and fulfill their God-given purpose in life.

With our September signing, Chapters' Second Saturday Series comes to a close, at least for 2014, but that doesn't mean we're through with events for the year! Visit our website and check out our online calendar to see what's in store for October and the culmination of our tenth anniversary celebration. You won't want to miss upcoming events featuring Ted Kooser, Wendelin Van Draanen, Mark Huntley Parsons, and Tosca Lee.

Summer Camp 2014

Camp 2014 is over, and as I say every year, it was worth every bit of effort that went into it. The entire Chapters staff--Cheryl, Kelley, Stephanie, Elise, and I--want to thank all those who helped us pull off a successful, fun week. We couldn't do it without you, our faithful volunteers Haley, Nora, Megan, Grace, and Abby.

Also, thanks to everyone who participated in our activities and entrusted your children to us. As former teachers, Cheryl and I both enjoy your children and their enthusiasm. We love having them fill the store with their laughter and sweet voices.

Our theme for 2014 was "Poets on a Bike and Other Unusual Combinations." See last week's blog entry to find out more about the biking poets. Here are some highlights from the rest of the week.

Our youngest campers started the week with the Pigeon, Mo Willems' loveable character, who, in his latest book, desperately needs a bath. The kids made dirty pigeons, blew bubbles, and had dirty water and soap (root beer floats) for a snack. For their second day of camp, they had fun with another favorite character, Pete the Cat, making magic sunglasses and using groovy buttons in fun art projects. For snack, the kids enjoyed mouse shaped pancakes--food fit for a cat. Camp week ended with a birthday party for Chapters' tenth anniversary, a fun time for everyone.

Started their week with Origami Yoda the school age group did. The kids learned to fold their favorite Star Wars characters from paper and read a very silly book. In keeping with the (very loose) theme of building things, the kids also had fun with Legos and made marshmallow-pretzel bugs for a snack. Later in the week, they read about a squirrel with super powers (Flora & Ulysses), recycled trash into treasures, and ate dirt and worms. Eat them up, yum! For their final day of camp, they also had a birthday party for Chapters and enjoyed cupcakes and a classic birthday story, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Here are just a few more photos from our week. To see others, check out the albums on our facebook page--and thanks again for a fun week and for ten years of serving you.

Type Rider II Tandem Poetry Tour

We had the pleasure to meet Maya Stein and Amy Tingle this weekend. They're riding a tandem bike

1,400 miles from Boulder, Colorado, to Beloit, Wisconsin, building “Little Free Libraries” and promoting poetry, community, a love of reading, and the spirit of collaboration along the way. At their Seward stop, we  hosted a bike rodeo, built a "Little Free Library" for the town of Staplehurst, and read and wrote poetry with Maya, Amy, and two Lincoln poets, Lucy Adkins and Marge Saiser.

Thanks to everyone who helped with Saturday's event, which we held at the Olde Glory Theatre and Community Hall. Officers Hammond and Summerfeld and John Moody ran the bike rodeo. Charlotte Endorf--owner of one of Nebraska's first Little Free Libraries--and Ken Block oversaw the construction project, and Ashlyn, Amelia, Nora, Haley, and Molly helped out as needed throughout the morning. And, as always, our fabulous Chapters staff was on hand to help.

Here's just one of the many poems Amy and Maya wrote at our event. They sat at their typewriters--manual ones, no less-and asked for a word from the audience. This is Maya's poem in response to the word 

"Friendly"

It's Saturday morning. I just had a glass

of lemoade. Right this minute we are in 

Seward, Nebraska, and the sun is shining and

there are bicycles on the sidewalk and you,

you are sitting right in front of me blowing

up a blue balloon and everything is

feeling bright and possible and the whole world

is friendly and it would be alright

with me if time stood still so it could be

like this a little while longer. Just like this.

Maya Stein