Week of the Young Child Celebrations

You may know that in our previous lives, Cheryl and I were both teachers of young children. We still have a soft spot in our hearts for these emerging readers. When I taught kindergarten and first grade, I was awed by the growth the kids demonstrated over just a few months. I still find it amazing how much those little bodies and brains can do, how they absorb and respond to the world and people around them. Reading with children is one of the most important things we can do with young children to give them a good start on their journey of growth and learning.

The Week of the Young Child is an annual event sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) celebrating early learning, young children, their teachers and families. This year, Chapters Books & Gifts and the Seward County Head Start program are partnering to celebrate Week of the Young Child. On Thursday, April 16, kids ages 3-6 are invited to join us at Chapters at 10:30 a.m. for storytime with Miss Cheryl. She’ll be reading the very fun Pete the Cat books, and special guests at storytime will be the kids from the Head Start program. Everyone else is invited, too. We’ll also be hosting an in-store book fair for Seward County Head Start all day Thursday, April 16. A portion of all purchases in the store that day will benefit Head Start programming. Please shop at Chapters that day and support a program that helps gives area kids a healthy start in life and learning. Stop by anytime during the Week of the Young Child, April 12-18, to see the artwork in our windows provided by the Head Start kids or for information about Head Start programs.

Independent Bookstore Day 2015

May 2, 2015, is the first-ever National Independent Bookstore Day (Think National Record Store Day, only better!). I hope you’ll join Chapters and independent bookstores across the country on that day for parties, author readings, in-store events, and exclusive one-day merchandise.

Chapters will be celebrating Independent Bookstore Day by spotlighting local authors. Ted Kooser, Stephanie Grace Whitson, Karen Shoemaker, and Lydia Kang will be here, as will Lucy Adkins, Sumerlyn Daywitt (writing as Echo Ardour), Sydney Olson, Jeff McArthur, Michael Curd, Shawn Farritor, Toni Morehouse, Les Williams, Brian Hale, and Greg Kuzma. If we’re lucky, Al Capone’s nephew may make an appearance as well.

We’ll also offer some of the exclusive books and art pieces which have been commissioned specifically for Independent Bookstore Day. Items include a signed, original Chris Ware print, a Margaret Atwood stencil, a color broadside from Stephen King’s forthcoming novel Finders Keepers, a signed Captain Underpants print, a “Guess How Much I Love to Read” onesie, and more. The items are all limited editions, and when they’re gone, they’re gone.

Another highlight of the day will be a display of our 100 favorite books of all time, chosen by the Chapters staff. The books in our display will each be 20 % off on Independent Bookstore Day only. I’ve just started compiling the list, and there will be something for everyone on it.

The first National Independent Bookstore Day is sponsored in part by Penguin Random House and The American Booksellers Association.

“The entire purpose of Bookstore Day is to celebrate our collective success and thank our customers and the community of readers,” says IBD Program Director, Samantha Schoech. We at Chapters also want to thank our customers and celebrate readers, and we're excited to be participating in this event.

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.