Alison Morris

Bookselling Tips from the Lemonade War (Part One)

We had three great events at the store last week: two starring Mo Willems and one starring Jacqueline Davies. Mo, as you probably know, is the two-time Caldecott Honor recipient and creator of that wonderfully persistent Pigeon who has dreams of driving a bus, consuming a hot dog, and staying up late. Mo is currently touring to promote the first two books in his new Elephant and Piggie series, Today I Will Fly! and My Friend Is Sad. He joined us for two events at the Wellesley Free Library, each before a large audience of enthusiastic school kids and assorted local families. OH, HOW WE LAUGHED! Especially when Mo had a handful of us performing reader's theater and when he read to us from Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late!, which included this performance of a very lengthy yawn:

Saturday's event with Jackie Davies (who lives just up the road in Needham) took place at our store and drew a lively crowd of local fans, eager to hear Jackie read from her new book, The Lemonade War, and sample lemonade from Jackie's portable lemonade stand. Wait? The woman has her own lemonade stand? Yes, indeed she does.

Before I enumerate the things Jackie did "right" about this book event, let me tell you a bit about her new book. The Lemonade War is a light, fun, and painlessly educational book about two siblings, Evan and Jessie, who attempt to outearn one another at competing lemonade stands. It's clever and fast-paced, which makes it kid-friendly. It's also chock full o' lessons in math and economics, which makes it  teacher-friendly. It is, in short, the perfect gift for budding entrepreneurs and the people raising them. It is also a book that could be of great use to anyone selling anything, ESPECIALLY AUTHORS.

To find out why this is the case, read "Bookselling Tips from the Lemonade War (Part Two)."

Posted by Alison Morris on April 30, 2007 | Comments (0)