independent bookstores

Indie Spotlight: Stories Bookshop, Brooklyn

By on January 7, 2019   /   children's bookstores, independent bookstores, Indie Spotlight  

Sue Cowing for Mixed-Up Files:  I love the full name of this unique children’s bookstore in Brooklyn—Stories Bookshop & Storytelling Lab (www.storiesbk.com) It’s a place that encourages kids not only to read good stories, but to make them!.   We’re talking today with Maggie Pouncey, co-owner:

MUF: Some people are inspired to open a bookstore because their town needs to have one. Brooklyn has several, yet there was nothing like the store you imagined, a bookshop with a storytelling “lab.”   Please tell us a little about your vision and how you are carrying it out.
Maggie:We believe sharing stories with your children is the surest lifelong gift you can give them, particularly in this digitally saturated age we live in. Brooklyn is a city filled with young families with tons of activities for kids, but it had no children’s only bookshop.

We loved the idea of these two symbiotic spaces—the small curated shop where you could find new books you’d never seen before, and the Storytelling Lab, which would be a community gathering place where stories were made, shared, and told. My husband, Matt Miller, and I spent a couple months writing our business plan —we needed one to apply for a small business loan—and we spent much of that time clarifying our mission for Stories, how we wanted the place to feel, and how we wanted it to serve in young readers lives and the lives of their families.

MUF: How do you choose what books to carry in your shop? Do you have some favorite themes?
Maggie: Because our shop is so small —smaller than the children’s section in many general interest bookstores!—we have to say no to a lot of things. Our largest sections are for picture books and board books, and/but we have thriving graphic novel and middle grade sections as well.

We also have a robust section of feminist books and books about change-makers; with so many good titles coming out inspiring kids to be activists, we even have an Activist Book Club people can subscribe to. We just love good stories! And books that have the kind of timelessness all great literature doe

MUF: As middle- grade authors, we’re curious to know what titles, new and old, fiction and nonfiction, you find yourself recommending most often to this age-group?
Maggie: We sell a lot of books by Brooklyn authors! Our bestselling middle grade books have been The Wild Robot and The Wild Robot Escapes by Peter Brown—such wonderful stories and can work as read-alouds to kids as young as 5 or 6.  We sell a lot of the fabulous mystery/ghost story, Greenglass House,

by Kate Milford. And the great memoir-in-poetry Brown Girl Dreamingby Jaqueline Woodson. (All three from Brooklyn!) We also sell a lot of beloved series —Harry Potter of course, and we’ve been very enamored of Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow; Wings of Fire(and anything dragons!); Wildwood;The Penderwicks; in graphic novels Amulet, Lumberjanes, all the Raina Telgemeier books.

MUF: What’s happening at the upcoming meeting of your Middle Grade Book Club?  Do middle-grade authors make appearances at your shop?
Maggie:Our Middle Grade Book Club for kids 8-12 meets once a month, and we read and discuss classics, graphic novels and new favorites. When it’s a local author we invite them to come! Peter Brown and Kate Milford have come. Karina Yan Glaser came to talk with us about the first book in her wonderful series set in Harlem, NYC, The Vanderbeekers. Last month we discussed Jacqueline Woodson’s powerful new novel, Harbor Me, and she came to talk with the group which was thrilling for the kids! This month we’re reading Dave Eggers’s new middle grade fantasy adventure, The Lifters, and after that we’ll do an awesome new graphic novel, Fake Blood by Whitney Gardner.

MUF: Tell us something about your writing workshops for this age group, past and future. Have you spawned some writers?
Maggie: It may be a bit too soon to know if we’ve helped usher in a new generation of Brooklyn writers—but we certainly hope we do 🙂 We teach an art class called Mini-Makers for babies and it’s such fun to watch  them explore new materials and make a very good mess making gorgeous art!

The graphic novelist Justin LaRocca Hansen teaches an amazing Graphic Novel Class for kids 7-12, and they really explore every part of the process, from idea, to penciling, to inking, to presenting their work to a live audience of their families!

We host a Storytime 6-days a week —on week-days led by our staff and on Sundays featuring an author or illustrator who shares a book and often does a drawing demonstration for us. I’m off right now to introduce Jessie Sima and her new picture book, Love, Z! These are such a lively and warm mornings, and I do hope they are showing the kids who come week after week the joy of making things.

MUF: If a family from out of town makes a day-trip to visit Stories Bookshop, are there family-friendly places nearby where they could get a snack or a meal afterwards?   And if they can stay longer, are there some nearby sites or activities they shouldn’t miss?
Maggie: Absolutely! Brooklyn is filled with family-friendly diversions and eateries! Just around the corner from us is Bklyn Larder—a delicious stop for lunch.  The bakery Ovenly offers tons of sweets treats. We’re also in walking distance from both Prospect Park and Fort Greene Park, lovely places to spend an afternoon walking or kicking a ball.

Brooklyn is a great walking city, and it’s the best way to see all the different neighborhoods. Brooklyn Bridge Park, the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens and the Brooklyn Museum are not to be missed.

MUF:   Thanks, Maggie, for making time for this interview, and for inspiring us with your vision of kids of all ages reading and creating stories.

 

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How I Became a Ghost by Tim Tingle

By on September 20, 2018   /   Articles, children's bookstores, Cross-Curricular, Curriculum Tie-in, Diversity, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers, independent bookstores  

Well done, Mr. Tingle.

Imagine a class full of anxious 5th graders sitting on the rug at your feet begging for the next chapter in our read aloud, How I Became a Ghost by Choctaw native and story teller Tim Tingle.

As a teacher, I incorporate every moment into a teaching moment, and storytelling is no different. This is my third year reading this book aloud and a common comment after each session is how much my students love this story.

A couple of years ago, I sent two students on an errand, and they later burst through the classroom doors out of breath. They said they had run as fast as they could across the campus to get back before I started reading. I realized then, that I shouldn’t send kids on errands or make kids do catch-up work when we were visiting the land of the Choctaw on the Trail of Tears.

How I Became a Ghost is not only entertaining, it is also brutally honest. It is a tale of the Trail of Tears, when  Native Americans were forced to leave their homes in Mississippi and relocate to land now called Arkansas and Oklahoma.

The story is told through the eyes of Issac, a ten-year old Choctaw. In the very beginning, Isaac announces to his readers (or listeners in this case) that he is going to be a ghost soon. And because of his condition, premonitions of grisly events begin to plague him.

This is where the brutally honest part comes in. There are many disturbing scenes that are so well-told, that the kids shriek in shock. But they get it. And they are anxious for you to keep reading. For example, during one of Isaac’s premonitions, he sees an old Choctaw couple burning in flames. Soon after, the same couple die when soldiers sneak into the neighborhood at night to set everyone’s homes on fire. And then there is the premonition of pus-filled sores covering some of the tribe’s bodies. You guessed it. Soldiers ride into camp and offer the shivering population blankets exposed to Smallpox.

Choctaws were removed west of the Mississippi started in 1831. Louisiana Indians Walking Along a Bayou by Alfred Boisseau was painted in 1846.

Smallpox became a huge topic in the classroom and I had to teach a mini-lesson on communicable diseases (which ties into our Health curriculum) and the use of diseased blankets.  The bigger story, which we discussed several times, was the relationship between native tribes, societal beliefs, and the government in the 1830s.

Because Tim Tingle is a master storyteller, tie-ins to Native American culture are seamlessly woven into the story. We learn how the spiritual world is part of the family unit and how those who have passed on look after and protect those still walking the earth.  When Isaac becomes a ghost, his story does not stop there. As a ghost he is able to assist the living as they continue their fight to stay alive while walking the trail.

As with most great books, and one that has won many awards, the literary elements are rich. Besides profound sayings worthy of insightful discussion, we examined how imagery comes from the imagination. The scene goes from text on paper to an image inside our heads. In the following scene, Isaac’s feet are frozen in a puddle, and when he pulls his feet up the skin tears off. The kids cringe when this happens, but they understand how bitter cold can affect the body and the desperate conditions of the Choctaw. It is interesting to see imagery taking shape through the imagination of a fifth grader.

Some conversations: What is the author saying? Why does the author make a point of one hundred footprints turning into a thousand? Why were the footprints bloody and not regular footprints?

Isaac looking back and seeing a bloody trail of footprints.

Isaac covered with a blue blanket leaning against a tree with his feet frozen in ice.

One of the reasons I originally chose to read a book on Native American history is because it helps students to build a broader concept of how the U.S. was formed. Books can be powerful tools and it is a tool that sits at the top of my teacher toolbox.

 

 

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Writing and Illustrating Muslim characters in children’s literature: Interview and Giveaway with Author Saadia Faruqi and Illustrator Hatem Aly

By on August 10, 2018   /   Author Interviews, Book Lists, children's bookstores, Common Core & NGSS, Cross-Curricular, Diversity, Fiction, For Kids, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers, For Writers, Giveaways, independent bookstores, MUF Contributor Books, New Releases, Publishing & Promotion, STEM, Writing  

I am thrilled to interview Author Saadia Faruqi and Illustrator Hatem Aly and discuss their new book – Meet Yasmin!  Saadia and Hatem talk about their experience developing a story with a Muslim main character and why diversity in children’s books matters.

 

Saadia, Yasmin is a brave girl who has a big imagination and loves adventure. Why is it important for you to write/illustrate the story of an empowering ethnic minority character?

 Saadia: So far we’ve seen brown characters mostly in issues books. They typically face a problem – or issue – that directly relates to their identity. For instance a Muslim main character facing Islamophobia, or an African American main character experiencing racism. Although I do believe that those sorts of books are helpful to our understanding of critical social and political issues, it also means that minority groups are otherized further, they’re seen as different, or only viewed in the context of that issue. Yasmin is the antidote to this problem: a Muslim girl in America, a brown first generation American, who is perfectly normal and average, facing all the issues every child her age faces, and having the same happy disposition we expect to see from all our children. It was really important to me not to make Yasmin or her family “the other” – someone different because of their skin color or their religion or ethnic background. There is a sort of empowerment in that normalization that only minority groups can truly understand.

 

Hatem, was it important for you to take the author’s background into consideration while creating the illustrations in the book?

Hatem: It is important, However, I didn’t have to work so hard on being familiar with Saadia’s background since I can relate to many elements of her background already being brought up in Egypt and Yasmin’s family seems so familiar to me in a broader sense. I did work on bringing up some Pakistani visual elements but illustrating Yasmin went organically harmonized with the author’s experience and my own as well.

 

In the recent times, literary agents and publishing houses for children and young adult books have made an open call for submissions from Muslim authors and illustrators. Can you explain why it matters to include diverse characters in children’s and young adult literature?

 Saadia: It’s really crucial to have as much diversity in all sorts of literature, not just in terms of characters but also stories. I actually come from an adult literary background, and I see the same calls for diversity in that age group as well, and it warms my heart to witness these changes in publishing. The reason this matters so much is two-fold (and something we in kidlit talk about constantly): mirrors and windows. My children need a mirror. They need to see themselves reflected in the pages of the books they read. Growing up in Pakistan I didn’t have that. I read exclusively white stories, by white authors, and my worldview was shaped with an extreme inferiority complex because of that. I don’t want my children to have the same, and I know nobody else does either. Also, other children need windows. They should be able to read and enjoy books that show a different sort of family than theirs, a different culture than theirs. This is the only way we can have a younger generation that’s more empathetic and understanding and aware than our previous generations were.

Hatem: It is critically necessary to show diversity in literature of all ages and to express a wider range of life elements in people’s lives. In my work I sometimes pay attention to some things that bothered me as a child but also that I found intriguing. For example, I remember almost all comics and story books took place in a sort of a suburban –house per family- neighborhood and I felt strange finding nobody living in an apartment like myself and most of the millions of people in Cairo alone or at least everyone I know. So I felt alienated but amused from a distance longing for something I can’t define. It seemed to me there was a generic way of living that needs to be challenged and I couldn’t put my finger on the issue exactly until I was older. It’s important for children to see themselves and to see others as well in books.

 

How can parents, librarians, and readers help support books like Meet Yasmin?

 Saadia: The key is not only to read the book but to discuss it. You could use the back matter which has some really good discussion guides for students, and there is also an educator’s guide for teachers. Finally, and for me most excitingly, Capstone has some very cool downloadable activities based on Yasmin, which kids are going to love. I encourage parents, librarians and teachers to take advantage of those as much as possible.

Hatem: The best thing is to read the book, and share it with others! Personally I feel that the most powerful way is to read it to students or story time at public libraries as well as parents to their younger children. I find that helps building bonds between children and books.  I love libraries, so I ask everyone to walk into their local public library and suggest that they buy a few copies for their shelves. Most libraries have book suggestion tools for their patrons, either online or in person. The same goes for your child’s school library.

 

Who are your personal author/illustrator idols?

 Hatem: It’s more of an emergence of inspiration fueled by a mix of interesting people. Many names come to mind, and many I will forget. Some whose work I enjoy and admire are Bill Watterson, Tove Jansson, Maurice Sendak, Jon Klassen, Luke Pearson, Marc Boutavant, Sempé, Zep, Jillian Tamaki, Lynda Barry, Vera Brosgol, Hayao Miyazaki, Naoki Urasawa, Edward Gorey, Kate Beaton, Carson Ellis, Oliver Jeffers and many more.

Saadia: Some of my favorite writers are my own peers, because I believe writing is best done as part of a community. In early reader and picture books I admire Hena Khan who’s been a trailblazer as far as Muslim representation in kidlit is concerned, and really carved a space not only for herself but for others as well. In terms of illustrators, I’m actually a big fan of Hatem Aly, haha! I feel very blessed that he’s part of Team Yasmin because it’s so important for me to have a person doing the art who really understands what it means to be Muslim, and first generation, and sometimes “the other”. He really gets my stories in a way that I think another illustrator wouldn’t have, and I’m very grateful for that.

 

What can readers take away from Meet Yasmin?

Saadia: Readers will enjoy seeing themselves in Meet Yasmin, even if they are very different in superficial ways to Yasmin and her family. Yasmin is literally the every-girl, and her family is the same as every other family. With everything that’s going on politically in our country at the moment, I hope that Yasmin can help readers understand that Americans come in all colors, and that there’s beauty and worth in diversity, despite what they may hear in the news sometimes.

Hatem: I believe that readers will have fun with Yasmin and recognize similarities despite some superficial differences. They will be inspired to be curious, creative, and believing in themselves all the way even if things go wrong sometimes. There are a lot of lessons a child can learn, but there’s also a lot of entertainment which is so important to develop in this age group of readers.

 

For more about Saadia and her work, visit her website. You can also connect with her on Twitter.

For more about Hatem and his work, visit his website. You can also connect with him on Twitter.

Thanks, Saadia and Hatem!

 

Want to own your very own copy of Meet Yasmin? Enter our giveaway by leaving a comment below! 

You may earn extra entries by blogging/tweeting/facebooking the interview and letting us know. The winner will be announced here on Wednesday, August 15, 2018 and will be contacted via email and asked to provide a mailing address (US/Canada only) to receive the book.

 

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