We always have a good time with Lynne Rae Perkins!

 

Lynne Rae at Dog Ears Books, August 2012

She has been here before, and now she's coming again, and I couldn't be more pleased. I hope you'll be able to join us on Saturday, October 1st, when Lynne Rae Perkins will be signing her new book for Dog Ears Books customers from 12 noon to 2 p.m. And this one is a mouse story! 

In the spirit of her squirrel book, Nuts to You!, this new one, Violet & Jobie in the Wild, takes a pair of house mice on a series of adventures, beginning when they are caught and transported to the wild. It wasn't a life they chose, but Violet and Jobie learn there is much more to the world than traps baited with cheese and peanut butter. 

Violet & Jobie in the Wild is an illustrated chapter book, perfect for middle-grade readers but too good not to share with the whole family!

Hardcover with dust jacket, $16.99

At Last! At Last! Big News!

Sorry I've been so lax about posting to this blog, but it has been a very strange summer. Now, however, I have BIG NEWS! Sarah Shoemaker, Northport resident and author of the acclaimed Mr. Rochester, has a new novel coming out on September 6, and Dog Ears Books is getting together with Sarah and the Leelanau Township Library and Friends for an open house-signing-launch at the library in Northport! You can read about the book here, but mark your calendar now, because the event is the Tuesday evening following Labor Day, and you don't want to forget. Doors will open at 7:30 p.m., books will be available for purchase, author will be happy to sign books. There will be no formal presentation, so just drop by whenever you can make it, and we will be there -- probably not past 9 p.m., but you'll want to come before refreshments run out, anyway. Hint: Think Greek. 

 

Bookish Northport News for July -- TOMORROW!!!

 

Author talk on Tuesday, July 12, 7:30 p.m. at Leelanau Township Library

There are no Thursday Evening author events this summer at Dog Ears Books, but the township library is going forward with its summer author series in July. The first author gave his talk at the Willowbrook, Elizabeth Emerson will speak at the library tomorrow evening, and Greg Nobles will tell us all about Betsey Stockton at the Willowbrook next week, July 19. His talk was originally scheduled to take place at the Northport Arts Association building, so don't be confused. Best plan is to come to the library tomorrow evening, hear Elizabeth, and get the rest of the schedule straight on your calendar. 

Letters from Red Farm is subtitled The Untold Story of the Friendship between Helen Keller and Journalist Joseph Edgar Chamberlin. Helen Keller's autobiography, The Story of My Life, was just about my first foray into nonfiction, and I've never forgotten it. Not only did Ms. Keller accomplish more than most sighted and hearing individuals in a lifetime, she also touched many other lives and was an example to the world. Joseph Chamberlin was her mentor for over 40 years, and the author of this book, Elizabeth Emerson, is Chamberlin's great-great-granddaughter, s tomorrow's library talk promises to be fascinating in every respect.

I'm not usually in the bookstore on Mondays but made an exception today, because I was unable to purchase a great number of Emerson's book and wanted to make it available today, as well as tomorrow, so don't miss out! Come on down!

Closed -- for the Season Only!

 

Summer and fall 2021 -- what a great business season in Northport, not only for books but also for paintings, and we thank our customers and clients, friends all, for rewarding our passions and endeavors with their patronage. Although November has been (until this morning's hard frost and despite recent snow that preceded frost by about a week) exceptionally mild, we are at least partially launched into our seasonal retirement. Not yet on the road but catching up on odds and ends of business, housework, home projects, and yard work.

We look forward already to seeing you again in Northport when we re-open, sometime in May of 2022. Again, thank you so much for contributing to our successful season!

It Isn’t Rocket Science

Here until the rest of the month

Bookselling, my calling in life, doesn’t require knowledge of higher mathematics, let alone astrophysics, but there are crucial numbers involved in the survival of any bookstore, numbers that can also be called simply “the bottom line.” A recent article in the weekly Northern Express relayed the sad news that Traverse City’s 50-year-old Bookie Joint on Union Street is closing – not due to the owner’s desire for retirement but because the dreaded bottom line figure wasn’t panning out. 

Sad news!

“I was robbing Peter to pay Paul,” said the current owner, who bought the business fifteen years ago. “And Peter was going broke.”

 

The 50-year mark is one I don’t expect to see for myself (as a bookstore owner), but the 30-year mark is only two years away and very do-able, I think. At times in the past I’ve attributed my business success (survival, I suppose would be the more modest word) to stubbornness, but stubbornness alone wouldn’t have kept the door open for the past 28 years. 

People buying books in the bookstore – that is the essential ingredient for keeping a bookstore alive. Not mere compliments or wishes of “good luck” from browsers as they walk out the door. People buying books. That keeps a bookstore in business. 

The end of October is coming up fast, and Saturday, October 30, will be the last day of my 2021 season – but we will be back again in May of 2022 because of all our dear, wonderful, loyal book-buying customers! So please, all of you, know that I am grateful beyond my puny words for your patronage. Still --

 

Thank you 

from the bottom of my heart 

for a wonderful 2021 bookstore season!!!

Stars and Chickadees

 

The director of the International Dark Sky Assocation, Dr. John Barentine, says of author Mary Stewart Adams that her “grasp of night sky lore is second to none.” Nevertheless, this book is one for the whole family. As the images above suggest, there are illustrations and rhymes for the young fry, along with plenty of textual detail for teens and adults. 

 

Now, late summer under dark northern Michigan skies, is a perfect time to pick up your copy of The Star Tales of Mother Goose (“For those who seek the secret language of the stars”), but it would also make a fantastic Christmas present for the whole family to share and enjoy

 

The Star Tales of Mother Goose

By Mary Stewart Adams

Illustrated by Patricia DeLisa

Hardcover, 97pp.

$29.95

And speaking of Christmas, Bill O. Smith from Traverse City has a new book out, Chickadees in December, another collaboration with Traverse City artist Charlie Murphy. Fun! And if a child has an opportunity to open one single book before Christmas, let this be the one. When you read it, you’ll understand why.

 

Chickadees in December

By Bill O. Smith

Illustrated by Charles R. Murphy

Hardcover, $19.35

Designs Carefully Chosen (by me) for Our Neck of the Woods

 

I am pleased to announce

an addition to my bookstore inventory --

these lovely cards featuring designs

by Sarah Angst. 

A couple are for birthdays

(one frog, one dog),

others for any occasions

(including birthdays)

for notes to special friends.

Four dollars each.