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Hello, Friends, Summer is finally here, and my it is hot in Brooklyn, where our factory-buildilng studio is still without A/C, adding only to the romance, of course. We've recently returned from a marvelous week in the South, so we're readily elsewhere, daydreaming of crape myrtle and giant oaks cloaked in Spanish moss. Below are dispatches from NoLA (Children's Institute, ALA Annual) and our Finn's Feather road trip to Mississippi and Alabama. Wishing you all a wonderful, replenishing weekend. Best Wishes,
Enchanted Lion Books
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DISPATCHES FROM NEW ORLEANS
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We were fortunate to have with us TWO exceptional author-illustrator duos: Jacob Kramer and K-Fai Steele of Noodlephant and Rachel Noble and Zoey Abbott of Finn's Feather!
We had an amazing time sharing their stories with booksellers and librarians over the course of the two conferences.
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Noodlephant publishes in January and will make its debut at ALA Midwinter in Seattle, after which they'll inch down along the coast to Los Angeles. Booksellers, educators, and librarians: feel free to reach out to us if you'd like to host Jacob and K-Fai for a book event. We'd love to hear from you!
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Portland-based Zoey and Queensland-based Rachel, who've been working together to create Finn's Feather for four years, met for the first time in New Orleans. Life can be truly delightful in all its randomness.
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Thank you to our community of booksellers and librarians for your support, and for the invigorating conversations that take place when we open books together and discuss how to equip young readers with stories that engage them in wonder with the world around them, in its beauty and brokenness. It is an encouraging thing to meet you face to face, and to see that we stand together for independent thinking, creative resistance, and community buildling.
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FINN'S FEATHER ON THE ROAD
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We started our bookstore tour at Square Books Jr. in Oxford, Mississippi, where we were greeted by a team of thoughtful and spirited children's booksellers. Jill, locally famous for her lively story times, ends each one by putting on a chicken hat and playing blues guitar. We're going back for more ASAP.
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Our next stop was the historic Eudora Welty House & Garden in Jackson, Mississippi, where our friends at Lemuria Books set up a story time and craft on Eudora's porch! It was sweltering hot, and the kind team of curators saved the day with popsicles. Is there anything better than sharing popsicles and picture books on a porch?
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After the story, everyone divided into two groups for activities. We have never seen anyone so excited to get their hands on craft materials! At one table, kids meticulously worked their own paper feathers, which were then looped on a string to be worn as necklaces or to hang from a special tree. Everyone made multiples to share with their family and friends. A second table was full of everything needed to make a colorful, unique feather pen. The kids were then invited to write a letter of gratitude to someone in their life who has given them a gift—there was a special kind of quiet at this table as the kids worked thoughtfully on their pens and letters.
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We were lucky to get tours of the Eudora Welty House and Lemuria Books in the same afternoon! Lemuria's entryway is epic and stunning. Not pictured, printed in giant letters to the left of the doorway is the following quote by Eudora Welty, who was herself a devoted patron of the bookstore:
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"I cannot remember a time when I as not in love with them—with the books themselves, cover and binding and the paper they were printed on, with their smell and their weight and with their possession in my arms, captured and carried off to myself."
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Our last stretch was along the Gulf of Mexico, to beautiful Fairhope, Alabama. As soon as we stepped inside Page and Palette, we were greeted with a "make yourself at home!" and fresh coffee. We were overwhelmed by the hospitality we encountered every step along the way on our visit to the South—the unhestitant reception and thoughtful conversations around books and how we share them with children made this an unforgettable experience.
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Thank you to Sherilyn, Stephanie, and the rest of the crew at Page and Palette for an inspiring morning!
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Keep an eye out for more book tour announcements coming soon! A few of our authors and illustrators are getting ready to hit the road at summer's end...
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SUMMER READING WITH ENCHANTED LION
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BLOB by Joy Sorman, illus. Olivier Tallec
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