Book Parties!

A new book is always exciting. Opening the box for the first time and seeing all those hours of researching, writing and revising fitted between colorful covers makes a holiday.  Hearing readers say they like the story is the best kind of music.  And book parties are the best kinds of parties.

This last weekend was a banner weekend--with two book parties for Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Table.

New Bo Books, Cedar Rapids

Saturday story hour at New Bo Books in Cedar Rapids was a great chance to visit with long-time friends and to meet new friends of all ages. Kids could connect Will Allen's farm with their own vegetable gardens. We made vegetable and flower mobiles. And we did have cake.Thanks, New Bo Books!

veggies from Laura's farm

Yesterday Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Table went to Laura's Krouse's Abbe Hills Farm.

Such is the power of Will Allen's vision of good food for all that just sharing his story brings people together with good food, introduces kids to the places where food is grown, and gives them a chance to try that food.

one family learns about Farmer Will

Farmer Laura shares okra

Kids come back from the field

Enough said

And, yes, in addition to the veggies, we did have cake.

It was a party after all.

Children's Book People Know How to Have Fun, Part 2

Coe's Bar

Arthur Geisert and assistant

Fun for writers (part 1) is meeting the readers of our books. Fun for writers (part 2) is going to book parties--our own and those of other writers.  Last Saturday was that wonderful kind of book-party fun. 

The book party for Arthur Geisart's new Thunderstorm  (Enchanted Lion Books) was held at Coe's Bar in Bernard, Iowa.  Arthur also opened his studio/residence for us to tour. (He lives in a remodeled bank, sleeps in the vault.)

Coe's Bar was busy selling copies of Arthur's book, and selling beer, burgers and fries to book lovers from all over Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois.  The place was standing room only. Arthur was busy signing from noon until 4:00 p.m. Many writers and illustrators were in attendance as well as various stripes of book readers, book lovers and book sellers. Ahead of me in the signing line was MaryAnn Peters, owner of the wonderful NewBo Books in Cedar Rapids.

It was energizing to see such widespread and genuine excitement about a children's book.  Arthur Geisert's publisher Claudia Zoe Bedrick of Enchanted Lion Books came to celebrate this new release. A producer from NPR was on the scene interviewing attendees. (I think the program will be aired on an up-coming "Week-end Edition.")

I was able to pick up a copy of the 2013 Enchanted Lion Books catalog and am eager to get my hands on some of these quirky, heartfelt, and remarkable books.  Claudia Zoe Bedrick writes at the front of the catalog:  "We seek out books that spark curiosity, wonder and astonishment; books that ask and explore, while affirming the creative force of the imagination and of life.  We are always creating the future. Life is always in the making. To open up this idea for children is to give them an infinite sense of hope and possibility. It is to nourish their capacity to act and to dream." Indeed!

cinnamon roll nearly as big as a tractor tire

And speaking of nourishment...I also was able to share a farm-house sized cinnamon roll with Jeni Reeves and Bonnie Geisert while we chatted about writing, our particular projects, and our lives. I've known and enjoyed Jeni for a number of years, just met Bonnie that Saturday; but it seemed as if we had been eating cinnamon rolls together in Bernard for decades. 

I love the communities of children's book people and how they intertwine--Brooklyn, New York--Bernard, Iowa; Galena, Illinois--Mount Vernon, Iowa; a story of a thunderstorm in the country conceived and made by an artist from a city; tractors and publishers catalogs; cinnamon rolls and books that "nourish our capacity to act and dream."

Thanks Arthur Geisert and Claudia Zoe Bedrick for a great book and a great party!